Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades
by L1berty0rD34th
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are stuck in Tartarus, and the others above have until the 1st of August to get to the Doors of Death and save them. Problem? The Doors are guarded by Porphiyon, unkillable-except by one weapon. But what is it? Join the gang as they make their way through twists and turns to defeat Gaea and save thousands of years of Western Civilization.
1. Percy I

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns all the characters, and the exert below. SPOILERS**

At the end of Mark of Athena:

(Annabeth POV)

_Annabeth's leg felt like it was pulling free of her boy. Pain washed everything in red. The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn't have the strength to fight. She knew she was too far down to be saved._

"_Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."_

_His face was white with effort. She could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless.  
"Never," he said. He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"_

_Nico's eyes widened. "But-"_

"_Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"_

"_I- I will."_

_Below them, the voiced laughed in the darkness. _Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

_Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome. _

"_We're staying together," he promised. "you're not getting away from me. Never again."_

_Only then did she understand what would happen. _A one-way trip. A very hard fall.

"_As long as we're together," she said._

_She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above- maybe the last sunlight she would ever see._

_Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into endless darkness._

I

**Percy**

Pain. Intense pain. Percy's vision was completely red and his whole body felt as if someone dipped him in molten lava. He was vaguely aware that he wasn't dead. At least, he hoped he wasn't.

After a few moments, his vision started clearing and his absolute torture subsided to intense pain. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Annabeth lay about 10 feet away from him, groaning in pain, but conscious and alive.

Tartarus didn't look as bad as he expected. The ground was solid rock, and the sky was a reddish- blue color. Thankfully, he didn't see any monsters around.

Percy tried to push himself into a sitting position, but his arms wouldn't support him.

"Annabeth," he croaked. "You all right?"

"We just fell into Tartarus. I feel like I just got murdered. We have no help, no supplies, no hope of surviving. Of course I'm all right." Annabeth muttered back.

Leave it to Annabeth to be completely optimistic.

Percy tried to sit up again, and this time managed, with a lot of pain and cursing. He thought about what happened. They found Athena Parthenos. Nico and the others were all right. Rome wasn't a nuclear wasteland. Hopefully, the Argo II was heading back to Camp Half-Blood to deliver the news. He thought about his home, how life was just a year ago, happy and relaxed, sure that the worst had passed.

Suddenly, a growl came from behind Percy. He shot onto his feet, Riptide already morphing into sword form. He turned around and tensed. Before he could register what the monster was, it leaped at him.

Percy slashed blindly, but too late. A heavy mass of black slammed into him and he flew backwards, landing hard on the ground. Percy could now make the creature out. It was a hellhound, its eyes dark and cruel. The hellhound pounced again, but this time Percy was ready. With a groan, he thrust his sword, and the dog disintegrated into yellow powder.

They had to get out of here before more monsters zeroed them in. "Annabeth, we have to get out of here," he whispered to her.

"I know." Percy helped her get up.

"Come on. Let's go find those doors."

**A/N**

**So, my first fan fiction. (my REAL first one I sort of just stopped) Review, criticize, eat donuts. **

**Short chapter, I know. But I just suck at writing long ones. I will try to make future chapters at least 1.5k words (This one is ~750 words) long. Plz give me some tips to help write better besides longer chapters.**

**There won't be a lot of Percy/Annabeth chapters because I want to focus on the Argo II. Maybe one here and there, but basically they're just traveling through Tartarus, following the Mark. **

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed. I don't write a lot, so my grammar and spelling may be a bit off, and my writing techniques isn't all that good. R&R. **


	2. Leo II

**Disclaimer: Me no own.**

**II**

**Leo**

Two of the world's coolest demigods. Gone. Fallen into a place where even the gods dared not venture. What chance did they have to survive? Let a long journey through it and try and close the Doors of Death.

Leo kicked the Athena Parthenos in frustration. He should've done something! Maybe thrown down a rope, tried to grab Percy's hand. Anything! _Stop blaming yourself,_ the logical part of Leo chided. _Focus on your objective- the Doors of Death._ Sighing, he headed back upstairs.

As he passed the second floor, Leo heard Coach Hedge smashing plates and cups in the kitchen, yelling in anger, "I should have saved them! I should have blown more stuff up!"

On the deck of the Argo II, Piper was trying to talk to Jason, who stared off into the distance. Hazel was crying, and Frank was trying to calm her down. Nico slumped against the railing, his face a mixture of feelings- anger, resignation, guilt, sorrow. Leo sighed. He would have to call this meeting to order.

"Come on guys, we're not going to save them standing around moping," he called out. Jason sighed and headed down towards the mess hall. Piper and Nico followed.

"I guess…," Jason muttered. Leo trudged over to Hazel. Normally, he would be cracking stupid jokes about their chances of survival, but even Leo, the world's most ADHD demigod, understood the circumstances. "Hazel, Percy and Annabeth are the toughest demigods I know. If anyone can survive, they can," he said, but he was trying to convince himself more than her.

Fortunately, it seemed to help Hazel calm down. "I hope so," she mumbled. Frank followed her down. Now, it was just Leo and Festus. He couldn't help but remember his signature mischievous grin he flashed right before he let go. He remembered his hands, scraped, bloody and white, as he let go and disappeared.

Downstairs, in the mess hall, the smashed silverware did nothing to improve the black mood of the Argo II. They sat around, not saying anything for a few seconds. Then Nico piped up, "They're not dead. I can feel it."

That drew everyone's attention. "What do you mean they're not dead?" Piper asked. "They fell all the way into Tartarus."

Nico shrugged. "I don't know, I can just feel it. I am a son of Hades, you know. Or Pluto… whatever."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Leo. Normally, Annabeth would make some sort of a plan. Leo was the sort of guy that commanders said to him, "see that guy? Smash his head in for me."

"We need to get back to Camp Half Blood. Reyna IM'ed me a while ago. They've already started fighting. I didn't tell her about what happened." Jason looked at his feet.

Hazel started crying again, and Frank led her out.

"Leo, we need to get back fast. Can your Archimedes sphere give us a speed boost?" asked Nico.

Leo nodded.

"Good. We need to show them the statue and break the news. Then we've gotta pick up some support and march on the House of Hades. And no more traveling over-sea. With Percy gone, who knows what could happen?" Nico left.

"I guess I'll have to tell them then…." Jason's voice broke. "Meeting adjourned." He left.

Leo prayed to the gods that Percy and Annabeth weren't dead. He left Piper to think by herself.

Anger filled him. Next time he met Nemesis, he would make sure she got a godly sized smack in the face. He might've gotten some sweet ship upgrades, but the price was too high. Gaea would pay as well. She would soon regret she ever messed with Leo.

"We're going to put you in a world of hurt, Dirt Face. You got that?" he whispered to himself, then went to install more ship upgrades.

**A/N**

**SO I changed the plot a little. The Argo will be heading back to the camps to stop the civil war, instead of trying to stop Gaea before the Greeks and Romans destroy each other. R&R**

**Sorry for another super-short chatpter. Chapter 3 is more than 1500 words :)**

**Peace out **


	3. Reyna III

**This chapter was never supposed to happen, but I thought I might want to give a quick Roman perspective. I actually went back and wrote this while I was finishing up chapter 10, so the note about chapter 3 having more than 1.5 words is actually chapter 4. Sorry but this is still longer than the first 2. Note- I will not do Reyna chapters unless there's some special reason.**

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns da ergo two.**

**III**

**Reyna**

"…. Destroy the _graceus' _camp!"Octavian was shouting. The 12th Legion roared in the defiance. They pounded their weapons on their shields. Reyna stood to the side of the podium, teeth clenched. Octavian continued ranting about betrayal, destruction and murder. The camp was in a war frenzy, oblivious to what they were up against. Reyna had closely studied Percy's fighting technique at the war games a few weeks back. He fought independently, unlike the Roman tactics, which focused on teamwork and cooperation. If the Greeks managed to break the Roman formation, then the 12th Legion would be destroyed, than pooped on by the Greek phalanx and Hypaspists.

Octavian shouted one final lie, and with a lot of cheering and hooting, started forming ranks. The camp was about a mile's march down a rural road, over a hill, according to scouts. Reyna bitterly followed the camper's and took her position. She caught sight of another spy sprinting down towards them. Reyna went to meet him.

The scout seemed tired, but unharmed. He panted for breath, and started, "Almost... almost saw me." *pant* "Got out as fast as I can…. They're not prepared for the invasion."

Octavian nodded in satisfaction. "We'll wipe those infidels right off the earth!" he said, and joined his cohort. Reyna took one last look at the battle plan. The first cohort formed the front line, with 2nd and 4th right behind it. The 3rd and 5th cohorts were protecting their flanks. Everyone started marching just as Reyna left the command tent. The 12th legion, in all their might and glory, would look intimidating to most enemies. But Reyna was positive that destroying Camp Half-Blood would not be an easy task, if possible at all.

Reyna rode Scipio as the legion marched towards the hill. The Golden Fleece was glittering on a branch of the tree on top of it. There were no signs of the dragon curled around the tree that early scouts had reported. The legion reached the hill and started marching up. Boots stomped on the ground. Just as they reached the crest of the hill and the first soldiers caught a glimpse of the camp, the spot right in front of them exploded into green fire. The first cohort was tossed backwards into their comrades, causing mass confusion. A line of Greek Fire barred their path to the camp. People started shouting orders to reorganize and count casualties. Reyna barked, "Pull back 10 paces and hold your ground! Defensive formation!" The legion fell backwards a few steps and gathered in a _testudo _formation. Reyna peered at the flame.

Then, it suddenly shut off. It was so unexpected, Reyna actually reared her pegasus in shock. A few of the other campers recoiled instinctively. Where the flame was a few seconds ago, a phalanx stood. Reyna could tell the majority of the phalanx were elite veterans, probably having more experience than Reyna herself. She could see it in their eyes. For a second, everything was quiet. Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter looked at each other, both in fighting formation. Then, before Reyna could call the order to retreat back onto even ground, Octavian shouted, "CHARGE!" and the battle erupted into absolute chaos.

Things went wrong almost immediately. A storm of pila and arrows soared and smashed into the Greeks. The projectiles all bounced off the Greek's massive shields, all etched with an intimidating design. The Romans stubbornly charged uphill into a solid Greek phalanx, and smashed into a wall of pikes. The spears thrust forward unexpectedly, and cries of pain were let out. The Romans pushed forward, trying to get past the phalanx. Then suddenly, a group of centaurs dropped out of light speed behind them and smashed into Rome's archers and the rear of the _testudo._ Soldiers went flying, and the archers desperately tried to fight off the fully equipped half-man half-horses with their shoot daggers, to no avail.

Reyna mentally face palmed herself. Her camp, driven by a lunatic, were hurling themselves at the Greek pikes for whatever reason. More Greeks appeared out of the woods to the side of the hill, and clashed into the Roman flanks. In the air, Camp Jupiter's eagles carrying soldiers behind enemy lines suddenly scattered as anti-air systems from Camp Half Blood suddenly started filling the air with hot lead and flak. About a quarter of the eagles were hit and wend down. The rest quickly retreated into Roman territory.

On the ground, though, the 12th legion seemed to be gaining ground on the flanks. A few more seconds and they would be able to flank and destroy the phalanx. Then suddenly, a massive BOOM! sent dirt and grass flying up only several feet in front of Reyna, Scipio whinnied and reared up, throwing Reyna off his back. When Reyna looked forward, Scipio had run back towards their base and in front of where he was a second ago, there was a massive crater and several limp bodies. Reyna recoiled from the sight of dead people soaked in red.

Great. Apparently, Camp Half Blood had an elite fighting force, a powerful navy, anti-air systems, and to top it off, artillery guns.

She tried to focus elsewhere. The Romans, suddenly confused by an artillery shell, were smashed into again with renewed effort by the Greek cavalry. Reyna knew it was time to pull back and regroup, before the legion was destroyed. She was just about to call a retreat order, when the Argo II suddenly appeared on the horizon.

**The help is coming. Maybe the 12****th**** legion ISN'T doomed. Anyways, I have a question. I hear the quote, "Whoever said nothing is impossible had never tried to slam a revolving door," alot lately. ANyone tell me if its from MoA? If so, what page? SHoutout to you if you get it right :) Donuts to you if you drop a review, I really appreciate them. It helps me think that I DON'T completely suck at writing **** Hope you enjoyed this lame chapter. Update on Friday. **

**I've got a nice suprise planned for the next Percy chapter. **

**Here's what my average day on the computer is- **pic . twitter O652y6fJ - Minus the spaces

**I don't know why I even decided to show it, but I guess I was bored xD.**

**Don't bother following my Twitter, I rarely post anything worthwhile on it. Mostly just use it to hate Rick Riordan's Rickhangers.**


	4. Jason IV

**So i forgot to tell you last chapter, but you can tell I'm very pro-Greek and Anti-Roman. In my opinion, the Romans just stole other nation's things, made it how they like it, and then bragged, "We created this all by ourselves! We are the greatest!" Another descritption of the war from Jason's POV, just to prove my point. :)**

**I tried to put some humor into this chapter, so tell me how I did :)**

**NOTE- I'm sorry but I forgot to include the Hunters of Artemis in this chapter or the last, so I'll go back and add someone meeting THalia in the next chapter :).**

**Disclaimer- **

**Me looking into Tartarus: I OWN U PERCABETH**

***Rick comes up behind and kicks me in*: MWAHAHA I OWN THEM NOW!**

IV

Jason

Jason gulped. He felt like a golf ball was stuck in his throat. They were only minutes away from Camp Half-Blood, where the Romans had invaded the camp. Archimedes's blueprints had really upgraded the Argo II, and they reached New York from Rome in just 2 hours. The ride itself… that was a completely different story. Jason hoped he didn't throw up in front of the crowd.

Jason thought about what Percy had done. Would Jason have been so selfless? He doubted it. If Piper was holding his hand, trying not to fall, chances are he would have eventually let go. But then again, Jason could fly.

The bit of jealousy that Jason felt towards Percy was completely gone. In its place, he felt ashamed at having ever feeling jealous.

Now that he thought about it, Jason wasn't so sure about breaking the news that Percy and Annabeth were gone, especially with the relationships between his camp and Percy's. The Greeks probably wouldn't like it if their enemy told them that their camp leaders had fallen into hell.

"You sure about this, Jason?" Piper was standing right next to him, eyes still red from crying.

Jason shrugged. Truth was, he was the complete opposite of sure. "I don't know. I just hope we can keep the camps from massacring each other."

Piper nodded. Nearby, Nico was staring ahead, looking for any sign of camp. Leo was up in the helm, Hazel and Frank talking nearby. Coach Hedge was downstairs watching more Chuck Norris ownage. Spirits were running low. You could feel it just by looking at the other demigods. Nobody talked a lot, and everyone always carried a weapon, like they were ready to fight off a spider woman dragging them down into Tartarus any second.

Jason took a deep breath. The familiar shore of Long Island sound was appearing in the distance

Finally, the camp came into view. Even from a mile away, the sounds of battle could be heard-Metal clanging against metal, battle cries, orders being shouted. Jason surveyed the scene. The Greeks had a phalanx on top of Half Blood hill 3 ranks deep and 20 wide, driving the Roman main line downwards. Archers behind them harassed the Roman formation. On the flanks, pegasus mounted Companion Cavalry were smashing into Camp Jupiter's flank repeatedly, causing the formation to contract, making it an easier target for the phalanx.

In the rear, a group of centaurs were in combat distracting the Roman auxiliary archers, while triarii spearmen were trying to repel them. The centaurs wore "Party Pony" slogans and carried paintball guns, slingshots, and NERF baseball bats and they were swinging them at everything in sight- even each other. The weapons made odd sounds when they made contact, like "KAPOW!" or "ZING!" or "TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL."

Peltasts were appearing out of seemingly nowhere, throwing a few javelins, and disappearing instantly. The left flank, probably the 3rd Cohort, was collapsing and the Greek right was swinging around, supported by hypaspists. A few more minutes and the Romans would be surrounded and slaughtered. Jason could tell that the Romans were getting completely destroyed. Camp Half Blood had home turf advantage, the hilltop, better equipped and trained troops, and brilliant commanders. And although the Romans outnumbered the Greeks 3:2, they simply could not get past a fresh wall of spears and get into close quarters or break through the flanks.

He had to stop this before Camp Jupiter was annihilated. "Leo! Bring us in and give me a mic!" He called out.

Leo's voice returned, "Gotcha! Make sure nobody blows us up!" The Argo II dipped sharply. Jason took Piper's hand to keep her steady. He grabbed the rail. Hazel and Frank both shrieked as they flew forwards and smashed into Jason and Piper. The 4 tumbled and landed hard on the front of the ship on top of each other. Jason realized that his lips were on Hazel's cheeck (definetly not purposly!). He panicked, shoving her off and shot up, brushing himself off. The 4 demigods stared at each other for a few seconds, and without a word, hurried back to where they were before.

"Hey! Could you be carefuly with the descent next time, Leo!?" Jason called up.

"Hey, we were going down. I had to make it look cool!" Leo replied. He had a wicked mischevious grin on his face.

Jason tripple facepalmed himself. *Insert oh-my-f***ing-gods meme face* "Really!? Leo?" He asked.

"I'm a level five lazer lotus, yo. Of course!"

Several dozen feet above the main action, the ship stopped and hovered. Jason had a clear view of the situation. The Romans were taking a lot of casualties, and they were losing ground rapidly. Jason could see the Ares cabin hiding in a clump of trees behind them, ready to slam into the rear of Camp Jupiter.

"STOP!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. His voice amplified across the camp. The action and sounds stopped instantly, and everybody looked up at Jason. "There is no need to fight! We have a greater enemy- Gaea!" Jason used thoses words that the heroes used in movies. Piper nodded and said, "Yeah. Lay down your weapons and relaaaaax." Her charmspeak was so powerful, even Jason subconcoiusly took out his gladius and dropped it.

But apparently, not everybody was convinced. Somebody from the Athena cabin called out, "They blamed us for an eidolon possession! THEY invaded US! And of course, they stole the statue!"

Jason smiled. "Well, good news. We've recovered it."

The entire Greek camp let out a gasp and started muttering amongst themselves. The children of Athena were standing in shock. Jason turned to face the Romans, who were muttering, "What statue?" "They hate us for what happened thousands of years ago?" "Where's my cookie for fighting?" "Reyna said BROWNIES, not cookies. Remember?" "Oh, yeah."

"Romans, listen! As praetor of Camp Jupiter, I order you to stand down immediately." He said.

"I second that!" a female voice called out. Reyna was standing outside an officer's tent, smiling at Jason. Scipio was nowhere to be found. 10 feet in front of her was a smoking crater, but she looked unharmed except for the fact that she was covered head to toe in dirt.

The Romans, having no choice but to obey their praetors, sheathed their weapons and started taking casualty reports. Slowly, the Greeks began to break formation as well. They simplyplopped down and started chatting as if none of this had ever happened. It was funny thing how this command worked. In Camp Jupiter, you followed orders because your leader said so and you were required to listen to him by the law of Rome. At Camp Half-Blood, you followed orders because you knew it was the right thing to do. Anyone who objected to a command had every right to speak up.

Octavian was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, someone had killed or at least wounded him.

"Camp Half Blood! Permission to land the Argo II!" Leo's voice crackled over the intercom. A girl from Hephaestus, Nyssa, Jason remembered, yelled at them, "Permission granted! Land in front of the Big House!"

Jason was glad nobody had asked where Percy and Annabeth were yet. The butterflies in the stomach calmed down a little bit. Then he remembered that they would ask as soon as they landed, and his butterflies started going insane again.

Leo landed the ship smoothly in front of the Big House (minus the fact that he almost got stuck in Thalia's tree, accidently fired a balista bolt into the sky, smashed into the Big House, and almost tipped over as he tried to land the ship). The Greeks enthusiastically went to ask them about their adventure, the statue, and all that stuff. In the back, the Romans edged forward uncertainly, not sure if they were welcome at the camp. Nobody from Camp Half Blood seemed to care. The children of Athena pushed forward hardest, demanding to see the Athena Parthenos. They stayed down in the cargo hold doing some calculations on the statue.

Jason, Leo, Piper, Hazel and Frank told the story, and everyone whooped and welcomed Nico when he showed his face. Nico was blushing and allowed himself to be carried away by the Nico Fan Club (only $19.99 a month!). Coach Hedge tried to convince everyone that he was important too, but nobody listened to him, so after about halfway through the story, he went back downstairs to watch Jackie Chan.

Although Jason was a bit disappointed in how the 12th Legion was owned big-time, but he mostly felt impressed at how well the Greeks had developed their tactics to counter any army.

Everything was going along nicely, everyone was happy and excited, until Malcolm from the Athena cabin came back up and asked Jason, "Where's Percy and Annabeth? There's no sign of them on the whole ship."

The crowd became an uproar, demanding to see their famous leaders. Everyone asked the question over and over- "yeah, we haven't seen them!" "Are they making out somewhere?" "Did you leave them behind?" "Where did they go?" "Did they die?!" "Did you let them steal our brownies?"

The 5 demigods froze. In the back, Nico tried to edge his way into the shadow of the Big House, but the Nico Fan Club (join now for $4.00 discosunt!) were crowed around him, barely giving him any room to even breathe. Piper discreetly nudged Jason. _Tell them, _her expression said. Jason shook his head. Piper gave him the look that said, _Do it now or I'll charmspeak you to strip right now!_ Jason quickly looked away. He cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. "Well… T-They were um…. They were dragged down into T-Tartarus," he stuttered.

Everyone quieted immediately. Some of the older campers from Camp Half Blood, demigods who probably knew Percy and/or Annabeth well, had looks of pure shock and terror written on their face. "My god..." someone muttered. A few of the older girls who probably were their friends broke down into their boyfriends' shirts.

Everyone started peppering the 5 demigods, "What do you mean they fell into Tartarus!" "You mean you left them to die!?" "Why didn't you save them!" "So they're dead?" "Thank god they didn't steal my brownies!"

Jason didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Nico saved him. From somewhere in the crowd, he yelled over the uproar, "Guys! They're not dead! I can feel it! LISTEN!" The crowd went silent again and looked at him. Nico seemed to melt into the ground from the attention he was getting. Looking closely, Jason was pretty sure he WAS. Some people breathed a sigh of relief. Others looked skeptical. Hazel took the opportunity to speak up. "They're going to close the Doors of Death from Tartarus. We have to get to Epirus to help them!" she said.

Jason followed up, "We're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to save them." Everyone nodded. "We're in," the Ares cabin cheered and raised their spears up high. Slowly, more and more people raised their weapons and yelling. Soon, everyone from both camps had their weapons raised up high.

Jason pointed to Malcolm, "Start organizing the navy. Leave some of the newer recruits to defend the camp." Malcolm nodded and went back downstairs, already shouting orders at his brethren. Coach Hedge was going crazy, yelling "LET'S DO THIS! TIME TO BLOW STUFF UP! GOAT-FU FOR THE WIN!" and swinging his cudgel and everything in sight. Unfortunatly, that included Jason. Hegde delivered a harsh blow to his stomach before a few Greeks could tackle him to the ground.

Reyna was organizing the Romans, deep in conversation with the centurions. The Athena cabin was already drawing routes and trading some numbers, while the Hephaestus was telling everybody to start loading up.

Jason smiled at the sight. He felt a twinge of hope, that the quest would go right for once. That Percy and Annabeth could be saved.

**A/N**

*********READ!****** The "We were going down, i had to make it look cool" and "i'm a level five lazer lotus yo" are Birgirpall references. Search him on Youtube, watch a video called "Powerswitch" (Language in there, so careful). HIS VIDEOS ARE ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!**

**PLEASE LETS HIT 55 REVIEWS FOR 2 UPDATES ON TUESDAY! :DDD **

**Ok expect update on... Monday? Maybe if we can hit 55 reviews early, than Sunday :) Remember, ^^^^**

**Sorry about that military rant about phalanxes and cavalry and all that. I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to military tactics, weapons and such. So, my plan for this book is 5-6 Argo II chapters and then 1-2 Percabeth chapters. Sorry for the lack of Tartarus, but I just can't think about of anything interesting that could happen down there. However, the last few chapters will be mostly from Percy or Annabeth's point of view. The end will be kind of sad (no spoilers :P), but I hope you like it nonetheless.  
.**

**Here's a rundown of the terms I used in the rant-**

**Companion Cavalry were famous Macedonian elite lancers with a brutal charge. Alexander used them in wedge formation for enormous affect against the Persian light infantry armies.**

**Triarii were wealthy Roman soldiers that could afford good equipment. They usually carried spears and acted as the anti-cavalry section of the Roman legion (though ordinarly legionaries could usually hold their own against cavarly).**

**Peltats were just guys that slinged rocks and hurled javelins at the enemy.**

**Hypaspists are elite Greek foot infantry trained with the spear, instead of with the pike. They usually covered the flanks of a Greek force. **

**I hoped you like the humor in this chapter :D.**

**I'm not expecting more than 150 reviews by the time I finish this story, since there are dozens of other much better authors out there that will probably be writing HoO Fan fictions, but I would really appreciate if you dropped a rating. **

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter. **

**Quote of the Chapter- Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.**

**Song of the chapter- Ezio's Family from the Assassin's Creed II Soundtrack.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Mass Effect **


	5. Nico V

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns all! *Bows***

**Rick: NOT GOOD ENOUGH! *Percy stabs me in the neck***

**Chapter 5 Today, chapter 6 tomorrow, chapter 7 on Friday. I hope we can reach 100 reviews by chapter 10! :)**

**Ok in the last chapter's A/N I realized I contradicted my own statement. I said "2 UPDATES ON TUESDAY IF WE HIT 55 REVIEWS!" and then a sentence later, "expect update on Monday!" Lol I was so stupid sorry for that. Anyways,**

**V**

**Nico **

Everybody gathered around the ping-pong table. The Roman centurions (including Octavian; Nico was upset that he wasn't killed) and Reyna still looked ashamed about the invasion and were shifting their feet uncomfortably, but Nico could tell the Greeks were interested in more pressing matters- like Percy and Annabeth. And the brownie payment.

Chiron called the meeting to order. "Miranda, sit down. Romans, you are welcome to find somewhere to sit and help yourself to Diet Coke and crackers and sheese. Malcolm, take a break from the laptop. Lou Ellen, please return Butch's finger. Conner and Travis, give Nico back his wallet." Nico instinctively felt his back pocket. It was empty. Conner snickered and handed Nico back his wallet. He glared at Conner, who smiled mischievously and sat back down. The smile reminded Nico of Percy, and his heart ached at the thought.

Chiron opened his mouth to speak, but just then, the door burst open and Thalia came in, obviously tired from running recently but uninjured. "Hey, guys," she waved to the gathered table. A few people smiled forcefully back. "I tried to make it in time, but Gaea held us up with some stupid exploding pigs."

"It's OK, I managed to stop the Greeks from destroying Camp Jupiter," Jason flashed a smile at Thalia.

Thalia smiled back, then frowned. "Where's… Where's Percy? And Annabeth?"

Silence at the table. The Roman centurions started checking their armor for non-existent loose parts, and the counselors from Camp Half Blood developed a sudden interest in the crackers.

Nico knew someone had to speak. So he did. "They're um…. In the Underworld," he mumbled, almost to himself.

To everyone's surprise, Thalia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god, for a second I thought they were dead."

Jason frowned. "You're not surprised?" He asked.

Thalia waved him away. "Nah, they've been to the Underworld tons of times. Piece of cake, getting through it for Percy," she said. But before Thalia could get out of the door, Nico told her the rest. "Well, Thalia, the difference…. Well… um… this time they….." Nico took a deep breath.

"Arachnesortofcaughttheminspi dersilkanddraggedthemdowntot ataruswithher." He let out a breath. "What?" Thalia frowned. "I didn't hear that clearly."

Nico felt himself starting to choke from the pressure and quickly repeated his statement. Thalia's face paled instantly, even more than when she was driving Apollo's Sun Chariot (Long story). Her bow appeared out of nowhere and dropped to the floor in a clatter. "Seriously? You're sure this is not a joke?"

The silence answered for Thalia. "Gods of Olympus… after disappearing for 6 months, I thought…" She blinked, hesitated for a second more, then stumbled out, leaving a few tears on the floor.

Everybody watched her go, stumbling away like she was drunk.

Chiron sighed and started talking. "So, as you all know, Percy and Annabeth are gone. According the remaining 5 demigods and Nico, they are going to close the Doors of Death on Tartarus's side, while the prophecy demigods close it from the mortal. Correct?" Everyone nodded. Chiron motioned for Jason, who was sitting right next to Nico to continue.

Jason launched into explanation about what happened. Nico drowned it all out, thinking about Bianca and Percy, until he heard Jason say "prophecy" in the back of his mind. His head snapped up. "….. has been fulfilled. Ummmm, let's see. _Wisdom's Daughter walks alone_- that's Annabeth going to find Athena Parthenos by herself. _The Mark of Athena burns through Rome- _The signs were popping up. Don't worry, Rome didn't burn down. We only created a huge sinkhole in a parking lot. _Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death._" Nico clenched his teeth at that line. His mouth got a bitter taste. He seriously wanted payback on the twin giants.

Jason continued, "'Angelo' is Italian for angel, and the twin giants Ephialtes and Otis locked Nico in a jar with pomegranate seeds from Persephone's garden. _Giants' bane stands gold and pale, won through pain from a woven jail_. Giants' Bane would be the Athena Parthenos, right Malcolm?"

Malcolm was typing furiously on his laptop. He held up one finger, signifying _give me a minute._ Then he went back to Annabeth's laptop. Jason frowned, but finished up his explanation. "_Won through pain from a woven jail. _Annabeth went through a lot of pain and tricked Arachne to weave a Chinese Handcuff and get stuck in it." Everyone muttered in amazement and awe.

Hazel spoke up, "So we have to get to Epirus, which is like in Albania, right?"

Without looking up, Malcolm answered, "It's a northwestern region of Greece that borders Albania to the north."

"The Doors of Death are located there, in a place called the House of Hades. Supossedly, It was the original entrance to the Underworld, until the gods moved to Rome. The mortal Doors of Death are located there, guarded by some of Gaea's fiercest monsters."

Piper asked, "So can we just drop a nuke on the place then stroll in?" Everybody snickered. Nico shook his head.. "Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus. If the blast gets through the Doors, then the explosion will amplify 1000 times and instantly incinerate anything within several thousand kilometers. If we positioned the blast so it stops right outside the Doors, a couple of mortal cities would be in the blast radius. Besides, the place is a preserved ruins. If we blow it up, the mortals will be on us." A few people groaned.

Nico hesitated before going onto the next reason. "One more thing. I was there. The Doors are guarded by Porphiyon. And, as you know, he's a giant. "

Hazel frowned. "Why couldn't we just kill him?"

"Because first, he's in his homeland, Greece, which will make things quite complicated for us. Second, he's immortal to anything, even gods and demigods working together, except for one weapon."

"Which is?" Hazel prompted.

"The uh… The Bow of Hercules." He muttered.

"What's that?" a few people asked.

Nico face palmed himself. Some people here need to brighten up a little. So he tried to connect with mortal entertainment. "You guys all saw that movie Immortals a couple months back?"

The people who were confused nodded.

"Well, the movie creators confused the Epirus Bow with the Bow of Hercules. Of course, Hercules used it. It had immense power. IN the first Giant War, Athena called on Hercules to help the gods beat the Giants. He used the Bow of Hercules to kill.. what? 5 or 6 giants? I forget." Nico explained. How could these people not know about the famous Hercules Bow, even if they were Roman? He inwardly sighed to himself. Nico had tried convincing Reyna to start giving mythology lessons, but she refused, saying, "If it doesn't help you win a war, it's no good."

Nico smiled evilly at Reyna, who caught his eye and developed a sudden interest in her jeans. "Guess it DOES help you win a war," he muttered to himself.

"So where is it?" Frank asked.

Nico shrugged. "At the end of the war, the bow was smashed into 4 pieces and thrown from Olympus by a giant. Nobody except Gaea knows where they are, and she has a giant protecting the pieces."

Just at that moment, Malcolm stopped typing on Daedalus's laptop and looked up. His eyes had a glint to it. Nico recognized it. Annabeth got that glint sometimes whenever she finally figured something out or came up with a brilliant idea. Smiling victoriously, he said, "That's why Athena gave us a clue in the statue."

Everyone started asking questions at once. Nico had figured as much. Maybe the statue was valuable and well-crafted, but the children of Athena wouldn't hate Rome just because it was stolen. A lot of other statues as good as Athena Parthenos were carted off as well. Obviously, there was something valuable INSIDE the statue.

Malcolm waved for everybody to follow him. The counselors and centurions wrestled to get to the door first. Outside, the Athena Parthenos glittered in all her glory, Nike standing proud in her palm. Malcolm climbed the statue and pressed Nike's nose. At the bottom, a slot popped out. Nico raced over and picked it up, shoving other people away. It read_, Find the first piece where a brave hero died, where warriors of Greece stood and cried. Where the founder of Rome escaped with his life, where the king of Greece reclaimed his wife. Where thousands of warriors joined the fray, to end the city's glorious days. _

Nico read the hint to the crowd. He locked eyes with Malcolm. Malcolm's face was dark. Nico could tell that they both knew where they had to go. He nodded to Malcolm. Malcolm nodded back. It was time to get this party started.

**A/N So what do you think is the city? I gave a lot of clues, it shouldn't be too hard. I hope you like the wording, it took me almost half an hour to think up (I spent most of Social Studies writing it out while my teacher babbled on about the Colombian Exchange). Next chapter will be war games and the prophecy of this story. Then they're off to find the first piece and after that, Percy meets an old friend. R&R. Peace out and See you in the next chapter. **

**Yeah I'm sorry this chapter sucked, but I was half asleep when I wrote it.**

**First person to get the city right will get a shoutout in the next chapter **

**Song of the chapter- Protectors of the Earth by Two Steps from Hell**

**Book of the chapter- Mark of Athena **

**Quote of the chapter- Don't tell me the sky is the limit if there are footprints on the moon. **

**DONUTS TO EVERYONE YAY!**

**Ok so I got a hate comment from an anonymous named Joy. Here's my reply to you:**

**You done? I've got other things to do.**


	6. Frank VI

**Thanks to all who review! We're 3/4 of the way to 100 Reviews! I'll tell you a little about myself when we hit 100! I know this is probably never going to happen, but I'm getting this idea that we might actually reach 1k! yeah, its my pride acting up again. **

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan is the master of all Percy Jackson! I wish I owned but…**

**Shoutout to ****Web of Obsidian for being the first person to get the city right- Troy! **

**This is my longest chapter yet- almost 3k words! Not long for most of you, but pretty good for me. **

**Next chapter will be Monday, the 22nd, unless I get enough free time to revise chapter 7. Sorry for no update on Friday, but I'm really busy this week! You might say, "Just give us the chapter! We don't care if it has grammer mistakes!" But I really want to give you all the best of my work possible. Rick thinks the same way- "_It really will take a full year to write. Sorry about the wait, as always, but getting the story right is important to me, and I know it's important to you. I'll do my best to make it worth the wait_!" - From his Blog. (rick riordan . blogspot. c/o/m). I want you readers to get the 1st class experience :).Idk why Fanfiction censors websites. If you know why, say in reviews!**

***READ!* Reuploaded this chapter because I just found out my younger brother slightly sabotaged my prophecy.**

**VI**

**Frank**

Troy. The instant Nico read the clue, Frank pieced the clues together. One of the ancient world's greatest cities, until it was destroyed by the Greeks. The hero was Achilles, shot in the ankle by Paris. The "founder of Rome" was Aeneus. Frank racked his brain to remember the king who invaded Troy. King Agamemnon or someone? The counselors and centurions both figured out the city a few seconds later.

They started muttering amongst themselves. Some of the campers who were going to their next activity looked at the group curiously. Frank shooed them away. A few of them snickered at him before leaving, but Frank was used to it. After all, it wasn't every day that a lactose-intolerant beefy Chinese-Canadian baby man (SoN reference) told them to leave.

Normally, this would be the time Percy or Annabeth would speak up and crack a joke about the clue. But instead, Leo took his place. "Ok ok, the city is Troy, the epic city of epic cool epicness that was epic cool from epicness. Man, the engineering of that place was just wow! Obviously, the first of the 4 pieces of the bow is located there, in the place where Achilles died. Nyssa, I want you to take the rest of Cabin 9 and start upgrading the ships with Archimedes's scrolls. Malcolm, I want you to start loading supplies and organizing the cabins."

They both nodded and left. Leo continued, "Reyna, that's your name right? Take the Roman navy and meet us at the coordinates I'm going to send you, 'k?" The Romans, including Frank, all shuffled uncomfortably. Frank said, "Our navy… well, it's not much."

Leo frowned. "How much is 'not much?' I need an operational definition. Not much for us is only 1-2 ships. Not much to you might be several hundred." He stated.

Frank answered, "well, our navy is basically, um…. Basically just a rowboat."

Everyone from Camp Half-Blood gathered laughed. Leo tried to saw between fits of hysteria, "Wha- What do you- *breakdown* Waddya mean by a rowboat!?" He broke down again. Somebody muttered quietly, "And Percy sank it during his quest."

"Umm, well, the Romans were always scared of the sea…"

Leo raised his eyebrow. "So you guys were afraid of Percy?"

"Of course! He can summon hurricanes, breathe underwater, and fall hundreds of feet into, like half an inch of water!"

"Oh, really?" Leo's hand burst into flames. The Roman centurions backed up. Even Frank, who knew about Leo, unconsciously felt his coat pocket, and then remembered he had given his stick to Hazel.

"If you really have no means of oversea transportation, then I guess we could build you a few extra triremes. Space will be limited for you guys, since we don't have time to build a whole navy, but a couple of ships- 4 or 5 should be nice."

The Romans seemed upset that they didn't get Greek luxuries.

"Anyways, before we left, I thought we might have a little fun." Leo extinguished his hand and smirked.

"Yeah?" Octavian sneered. "What's it going to be? 'Show Off Competition?"

"No, I have a better idea. It's a mixture of siege and capture the flag. Both teams have until tonight to design a fort in the woods. It's all Greeks against all the Romans. Our slightly better training-" *A few unhappy comments and complaints from some Romans* "-should even out your numbers. Both teams have one defensive side and one attacker side. Anything is allowed, so long as killing and maiming are avoided when possible. First team to bring the enemy banner to their own side of the creek wins. How do you all like it?" Leo smiled wickedly. This usually meant he had a nasty trick up his sleeve. Frank shuddered at what he was going to unleash.

He was excitied at having this battle. Maybe this time they could prove that they weren't weak. Everyone else seemed to be happy, and broke apart, calling the 2 camps to order. Frank went with Reyna. She layed out the game plan. "So, we will place the veterans in front to break through the Greek main battle line, supported by _hastati_ to fill gaps in the line. Medics be on call for injuries.. That's 1st and 5th cohort. 1st will form the first 2 ranks, 17 each. The 5th will be 20 feet behind, ready to back up any gaps in the line. 3rd cohort will cover the left flank, and 4th will cover the right. We need to deny the Greeks flanking ability. 2nd cohort- half of you defend the fort. The other half will act as _velites. _Standard tactic- 3 volleys of _pila_, then charge. Make all your shots count. We need to disrupt Camp Half Blood's phalanx if we're going to have any chance. Try to flank them. Any objections?" Nobody objected. Frank was pleased that for the first time since Percy arrived at Camp Jupiter, the 5th cohort was used more than as meat shields.

Reyna nodded in satisfaction. "Good, let's go show those Greeks what Romans are made up of. _Senatus Populusque Romanus!"_

The rest of Camp Jupiter echoed the battle cry, and went to organize.

* * *

(Quick switch to Leo so you can listen to the Greek's battle plan, than back to Frank).

Malcolm called the meeting to order. "Ok, so, the Romans think that we're going to try and flank them again. Most definitely they will spread out a very long line to prevent that. But that's their weakness. When you have a battle line 2 ranks deep, one good shock charge will completely smash their formation. So we're going to surprise them. Everyone is going to blitz the Roman lines barbarian style and create a gap in the center. The flanks will then try to swing around and flank us. As soon as that happens, another force hidden in the woods will come from the flanks and hit their rear. Apollo, use those Greek Fire arrows Hephaestus has been working on and bring down the fort once we get past the Roman advance. Nike and Hecate, you guys will be on defense. It should be an easy job." Everybody nodded. The plan was simple, yet deadly. The Romans wouldn't expect it at all.

"Dismissed." Everyone left.

(Back to Frank)

Several hours later….

Dinner was a solemn event. Everyone glanced at the empty Poseidon table and the missing counselor's spot at Athena. Chiron had offered the leadership to Malcolm, but he had refused, saying that Annabeth would be back soon. The Romans were allowed to mingle freely from table to table, but mostly they stayed in one spot. Frank sat with Hazel at the Hephaestus table, eating Olympian pepperoni pizza.

"Frank, do you really think that they can make it out alive?" Hazel whispered quietly so that nobody else could here.

Frank replied truthfully, "Of course I think so. They're the toughest demigods I've ever met. If anybody can survive in that hellhole, its them."

Hazel wasn't convinced. "Did it ever occur to you that since the Doors have to be closed from both sides, that someone would have to stay in Tartarus to close it?"

Frank froze. The thought had never occurred to him. He and the Argo were to occupied finding out how to save them. He tried swallowing his pizza, but the food seemed to stick in his throat. "I'm sure we'll figure something out," he soothed. Hazel nodded, but still had that faraway look in her eyes whenever something was wrong.

"Hey, don't worry, OK? We'll have Leo make a grabber arm long enough to get them out of there if that's what it takes." Hazel laughed quietly, and went back to her shrimp gumbo.

After dinner was over, Chiron made his usual announcements. "Chariot races will continue, canoe tournament is tomorrow…." He went on about all the events. Frank didn't even realize that he had finished and everybody had left for War (sing-a-long was canceled for extra time) until Hazel shook him. "Let's go!" she scoffed.

"Huh? Oh yeah, c'mon." Frank followed Hazel.

Frank had to admit, the Roman engineers had really outdone themselves this time. The fort was several feet thick armed with water cannons every five feet. The 2nd cohort looked pretty confident that nobody would get past them. Frank took his position as centurion standing to the left of his cohort, and started shouting orders. "2 ranks deep, 17 wide, just as the praetor said! James, stop smashing your shield on Tom's head." Jason came over in praetor gear and nodded, taking his position right behind Frank. Jason looked scary, holding his gladius and eagle, ready to murder anybody who got in his way. "Let's do this, Frank," he smiled.

Frank nodded, and called for the 5th to start marching. "Legionary 5th cohort. Forward, MARCH!" The rhythm of boots marching began. 1st cohort began advancing, with Frank's right behind them. To his flanks, the other cohorts started marching as well. The other half of the 2nd cohort screened their front, about 100 yards away.

The forest was unnaturally quiet. The Legion marched along, making no attempt to stay hidden. Frank reached the river and called a halt. The skirmishers ahead had disappeared. He called in Latin, "_Ave!" _Hail! No response. Something was wrong.

He looked at Reyna, who had a worried look on her face. Frank raised his eyebrows at her. _What do we do?,_ he tried to convey. Reyna made some hand gestures. _Forward. On alert. Swords out. Tight formation._ He nodded and repeated the commands to his cohort, who began closing up the ranks.

Soon, they marched forward again. The water splashed their feet, freezing their toes. Frank reached the other side halted the cohort again. The 5th had their massive rectangular shields up, and their swords were drawn. Frank made the gesture for _forward._ As the 5th secured a foothold on the other side, other cohorts began tramping across. Just as the last guys crossed, a battle cry came out of nowhere. Everyone raised their shields instantly. There was nobody around.

Then, suddenly, a single arrow came out of the woods. Everybody raised their shields up instinctively, even though Frank could tell that the arrow was unweighted and blunt. It bounced harmlessely off a legionare's shield. The 12th legion gathered together, ready to repel any more arrow attacks. What happened next was hard to process.

A storm of at least 50 arrows soared into the Roman formations. Except this time, when they hit a shield, the arrow blew up with the force of a grenade. The entire legion was flattened- literally. Frank stumbled back a few steps from the sudden shrapnel rain. An explosion in front of him, threw him backwards. He landed on his back painfully. Beside him, Reyna shrieked as she flew back 10 feet from another explosion.

Frank heard, through the ringing in his ears, the Greeks yelling and charging. He tried to get up, but then felt a painful blow in his right temple. Frank collapsed again, his eyes now blurred from the blunt edge of a Greek shield slamming him in the head. He blacked out momentarily.

After a few seconds, Frank's eyes cleared, and he opened his eyes to see the entire strike force in custody of what.. 20 Greeks? Frank was a little confused at why 150 legionaries didn't try to overpower 20 Greeks, chatting with each other as if 9/10 of Camp Jupiter wasn't sitting in front of them. Then he saw 4 things that looked like baseball bats glowing blue and giving off sparks of electricity. They were positioned in each of the 4 corners of the prisoner square. Small sparks of blue plasma briefly appeared between them. Frank realized that the Romans were surrounded in a force field. He didn't know why he wasn't in it.

Frank tried standing up, then realized his hands and feet were shackled to the ground, the chains drivin in with iron spikes. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when one of the Greeks looked up and shouted, 'They're coming back!" Frank turned to see.

Sure enough, in the distance, a group of about 30 Greeks were sprinting at top speed back towards him, followed by the garrison of the fort, yelling some pretty nasty words at the runners. One of them, a big buff girl, carried the Roman banner in her hands. "Yeah, Clarisse!" A few of the Greeks shouted. Clarisse jumped across the brook, then planted the flag firmly on the Greeks' side. Camp Half Blood roared in victory. More Greeks came out of the woods around Frank, cheering and whooping.

Just then, a red-headed girl seemed to melt of the tree 5 feet to Frank's right. He stumbled backwards, vaguely aware that his prison chains had disappeared. Everyone else around stopped as well. She had green eyes was about average height. The girl wore tattered jeans and a gray sweater. She looked like her family was rich, but not spoiled. Greeks and Romans like looked at her in confusion. Someone from the Ares cabin, the same girl who had the flag, asked, "Rachel? What are you doing here?"

The girl smiled a little. "The Oracle has awakened again. A prophecy is about to come." Several guys from the Apollo cabin rushed over and stood beside her, hands held as if ready to catch her if she fell over.

Frank and a lot of the Romans yelped as her eyes suddenly glazed over and Rachel started spewing green smoke. When she spoke, it sounded like 3 80-year old Rachels were speaking,

_Gold, bronze and earth at war,  
As the demigods seal Death's Doors.  
While the pieces of the bane are searched and found,  
Wisdom and water continue underground.  
Tartarus takes one down to death,  
Whilst an oath is kept with a final breath._

The girl collapsed, but the guys from Apollo were ready. They stopped Rachel's fall and took her back to camp. Everybody stood in shock at the prophecy. Frank's mind was racing.

Frank semiconsciously walked to the Big House, pondering the prophecy. Everybody was quietly discussing it, obviously frightened by the last line.

_You see? _Gaea whispered in his head. _The quest is hopeless. One by one, you will all fall. The final battle is yet to come. Surrender now, son of war, and you will not regret it. _

But Frank only had one thing on his mind- That the quest was going to go very wrong.

**The prophecy sucked, I know, but I'm terrible at making things up. Ending is… pretty depressing and sad, but I hope you will like it nonetheless. Even though it's about 9 months away. Yes, I plan to finish this sometime next summer, but I might finish it a bit early. **

**Don't worry, next chapter is only like half a page of discussion, then the quest starts with a bang. Literally (hehe). Then a Percy chapter, where we meet an old enemy. Like, a bigtime old enemy. Any ideas who we will see? Ooh, Percabeth is in for a world of HURT. ****DONUTS TO ALL WHO REVIEW! **

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter. **

**Quote of the Chapter- I didn't fall. The floor just needed a hug. **

**Song of the Chapter- Am I not Human? By Two Steps from Hell (I'm a 2SFH fan, clearly. ****)**

**Entertainment of the Chapter- Assassin's Creed II by Ubisoft.**


	7. Hazel VII

**A/N I swear on the River Styx not to abandon this story unless I die or something xD.**

**EARLY UPDATE YAY! NExt chapter will be Friday, or thursday if I'm feeling it :)**

**Disclaimer-**

**Me: Hey Rick, whats up?**

**Rick: I'm writing House of Hades :D**

**Me: So am I. High Five!**

**Rick: Nope. Screw you. *slams his manuscript into my head* I OWN HOO! MWAHAHAHAHA**

**Lets get 15 reviews for this chapter *puppy eyes* When we hit 100, i'll tell you a little about myself.**

**Meh Chapter 6 sucked, didn't it? I only got 4 reviews for that chapter. I got tons of them for Amanda and the other chappies, but it seemed chapter 6 was bad D:. Guys, if my writing sucks, tell me in the reviews, as long as it's not hate. I try to improve, but you guys, the viewers, are always the best critics ****. Enjoy**

**3 cheers (or is it huzaahs) for chinqs for tips on writing.**

**VII**

**Hazel**

Hazel was passing out from boredom. She leaned on Frank, eyes drooping while Octavian ranted on about how the Greeks had betrayed them and didn't earn the support of the Romans. When he finally finished, looking triumphant, Reyna muttered something that Hazel couldn't here and some people laughed. Octavian's face turned the color of the strawberries outside.

"Ok, everybody. The Greeks have built us 5 ships, one for each cohort. I think you will find the quarters quite enjoyable." Reyna stood up and left.

"Understatement of the year," Nyssa muttered and meandered out. Slowly, everybody trickled away until it was just Hazel and Frank. They didn't say anything, just wondered about the prophecy. A deal to make? A final seal? 2 lives lost? Hazel's head ached from everything. Although she had emotionally gotten over Percy and Annabeth, she still felt worried sick about them.

Hazel didn't move for several minutes, until she heard some noise outside. Picking herself up, she walked to the door. Hazel gasped at the sight. "Wow," she murmured.

Hazel had heard stories about the glory of the Greek city states in ancient times. Camp Half Blood lived well up to the standard. The camp was in full preparation. The Greek navy- about 35 top condition triremes were getting ready in the harbor. The campers from CHB marched in perfect unison wearing full gear, their Celestial Bronze armor, massive _hoplon _shields and tall pikes glistening in the sunlight. It was amazing how Camp Half Blood made something as orderly as a march look relaxed. Everyone was talking and laughing, sometimes getting pushed out of line by their friends. Instead of those serious, intimidating looks Romans had, the Greeks looked at ease.

Hazel felt a twinge of jealousy toward this camp. Why couldn't THEY be like this- always relaxed, yet still getting the job done. The cabins disappeared onto their ships to prepare, while nature spirits, a few Cyclops Poseidon had lent them, and Argus loaded supplies onto the ships designed to carry cargo. The gods had sent word that their split personalities were diffusing together again, thanks to the cooperation of the Greeks and Romans. Hermes had told them that they were still calming down, but would send as much help as they could spare.

"Frank, let's get on the Argo. We're about to leave for Troy." She called out.

Frank stood up, brushed himself off and walked out, flashing Hazel a quick smile. "See you," he said.

Hazel stalked after him, relaxed and content. Just her luck that Gaea had to break into her mind right that moment. _We need some fireworks, _she muttered, almost to herself. _This camp is so dull. Perhaps the Athena ship will do. _

Hazel frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened in realization. She sprinted to the docks, yelling, "GET OFF THE SHIPS! THEY'RE RIGGED TO BLOW! GET OFF!" People glanced at her, confused for a moment, then processed what she said and started running off the boats. Fortunately, nobody asked her where she got the information from. Just then, a massive _KABOOM _went up from a ship docked near Hazel. The explosion sent her flying several feet backwards, landing her head on the cobbled ground of the dockyard. She tried to regain her senses.

Her sight was blurry and her ears were ringing. She didn't feel any wounds, but moved sluggishly. A massive cloud of sparks and flame went up from the ship. If not for the circumstances, Hazel would have been mesmerized by the sight. A beautiful orange fire arose from the trireme's wreckage. The boat had snapped in half and was filling with water rapidly. There was no way to save the ship.

Finally, her ears started to work again. Instantly, Hazel heard shouting everywhere- for medics, reports, and damage assessment. "Hazel!" someone behind her shouted. Frank was turning back into a human from… was that a horse? The moment he fully morphed, Frank ran over to Hazel and helped her up.

"I'm fine," she snapped, but accepted his help. "What happened?"

Frank shrugged, "The ship that was supposed to carry the children of Athena went off. Clarisse judges that from the size, location and heat of the explosion, someone rigged the ship's engine room with about 30 pounds of C4 explosive. Nobody was killed, but most of the Athena cabin was seriously injured. Nothing important was lost in the explosion, except a few charts and plans, but they can be replaced."

Hazel was relieved that nobody had died. She wondered, _why did Gaea target Athena's ship?_ It makes sense that she would want to disable the leadership, but Gaea never did anything that wasn't part of a bigger scheme. Besides, the Romans still had their centurions.

Hazel caught sight of Leo in snorkel gear dive into the water where the ship had sunk, carrying a bunch of stuff- a camera, blowtorch, and…. Was that a pair of sunglasses? Hazel saw the 3 letters marked on the sunglass- ARI. Then Leo disappeared underwater.

Slowly but surely, the ruckus was beginning to quiet down. Medics had carried off the Athenians injured in the explosion, and crews were already arriving on scene. Jason, a few centurions and Ares children were ordering groups to conduct thorough searches of the ships for any more bombs. Piper was charmspeaking the crowd to calm down and leave.

Hazel could feel Gaea's satisfaction in her head. _Much better, _the intruder sighed. _Daughter of Death, this is only the beginning. In the end, two of you will die a painful death. In the depths of the Abyss, your friends are to be greeted by an old friend of theirs._

_Shut up, _Hazel retorted. _Go back to making your cereal._

_Hazel Levesque. You will regret what you said. _Gaea whispered.

_All I'm going to regret is not killing you 60 years ago. _Hazel shot at the OCD goddess.

Gaea went silent.

Hazel ran over to a meeting of leaders. The counselors were discussing to postpone the launch. Hazel butted in, saying "We can't delay any longer. If we don't make it to the Doors of Death before Percy, they'll get overwhelmed and killed. Gaea spoke to me in my head, damn her. Didn't mention any other ships rigged, and she's confident enough to not keep any secrets from me." Nobody seemed eager to get back on the ships.

"What happens if another ship blows up?" Somebody asked

"We have to save Percy and Annabeth, remember?" Hazel saw everybody weakening and pushed in. It was all or nothing now.

"If we don't make it, Gaea will take Percy and Annabeth's blood and rise!" Everybody nodded, suddenly frightened. Of course they would go on a possibly about to explode ship instead of having their camp leaders getting murdered and Gaea rising from their blood. Go figure.

Hazel stepped onto the Argo II and watched idly as people boarded the ships. No other triremes exploded, thank the gods. Within the hour, the campers from both camps were ready to leave. Ships began pushing off the beach as the younger campers waved goodbye to their older, war seasoned friends. Soon, the entire invasion force-15 ships in total,90 Greeks and 150 Romans- were organized into Pincer Formation, their ballistae armed and oars rowing at max speed.

Leo came up on deck, clutching those sunglasses he took down. "Leo, what are those glasses that you're holding?" She blurted out.

Leo smiled and showed them to Hazel. "I got the idea from a video game I played called Heavy Rain**. **Its these glasses that give you a heads-up display. You can watch movies on it, analyze samples, search the web, even listen to audiobooks." Leo handed them to Hazel.

"Here," he said. "Try them out. Don't worry, I've got a dozen of them, so don't worry about it getting destroyed." Hazel smiled, "Thanks," and pocketed the glasses. She SERIOUSLY needed to try them out later.

"Where are the guys from Athena going?" Hazel asked.

Leo, already on the way to the helm, said over his shoulder, "They're staying on the Apollo cabin's ship. They're in the infirmary for now."

Leo raced to the stern and pushed Coach Hedge aside, who was trying to figure out how to use fire the ship's broadside, which consisted of 9 40-inch guns that could fire high explosive, sabot, armor piercing, standard, incendiary, poison gas, and fart shells. Leo had just installed the guns using Archimedes's projectile technology while the 6 were at Camp Half Blood. He started punching buttons and saying commands to the control panel. Leo's voice crackled on the intercom, "This is your Supreme Commander, Leo Valdez of Team Leo speaking. We are now headed for the city of Troy. Fasten up, get ready. The plan of attack is to pick up the pieces, reach the Doors of Death, save Percy and Annabeth, close the doors, and kill anything in our way."

Next to Hazel, Piper muttered, "Might be a bit more complicated than that."

Hazel stared ahead at the empty sea. Hazel wished Percy was here. The vast blue seemed dead, as if responding to the son of Poseidon falling into Hades.

Hazel heard Leo in the control room saying, "Argo II to Hellfire. Do you read?"

"Roger that, Hellfire copies loud and clear."

"Hellfire, we'll meet you at the beaches of Troy. 2 days, copy?"

"Roger that, Argo II. 2 days. See you there. Hellfire out."

**Forgot to say in last chapter, but YES, somebody will die in this FanFic. Please don't kill me for it when it happens (long time away still, not until very last chapters). I hope you didn't just remove me from your life because I said that xD.**

**Maybe this chapter sucked too, cuz I was kind of tired when I wrote this, but I hope you (sort of) enjoyed.**

**So about the game Heavy Rain. I played it, IT WAS SO FRICKIN SAD! That game's ending was just…. Depressing, is all I can say. Heavy Rain and was the only game where I actually cried. Play the game and see for yourself. If Heavy Rain were ever made into a movie, the person who played Ethan (the main of 4 protagonists) deserves an Oscar, or whatever award they give to good actors. **

**About the glasses- ARI is this sort of police investigation glasses that one of the game's other protagonists, an investigator (I forgot his name) uses to analyze samples and play games. Pretty cool; I wish I had one of them. Who actually reads my A/Ns? I mean, sometimes I put pretty important stuff on it, and my Quote, Song and Entertainment of the chapters may appeal to you. If you read my A/Ns, say so in the reviews.**

**Ok, next chapter is Percy, where they meet an old enemy. Like, a big-time old enemy. **

**Review and Favorite **** Peace out and see you in the next chapter. **

**Quotes of the Chapter- A guy came asking for a donation to the local pool. I went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water.**

**Some people are couch potatoes. Not me. I'm a couch tomato.**

**Song of the chapter- I was lost without you, from the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack.**

**^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN! Extremely beautiful romantic song. Play when reading Percabeth :)**

**That is one of my favorite songs to hear and play on my keyboard **

**Entertainment of the chapter- Heavy Rain (depressing) **


	8. Percy VIII

**THANKS SO MUCH FOR 100 REVIEWS I LOVE YOU PEOPLE 333333 Wait, now that looks like a human centipede ._.**

***READ* So I think I told you that once we reach 100 reviews, i would tell you a little about myself. Idk what to say though. So Tell me guys what do you want to know about me? Nothing personal (name, birthday, ect), but you can ask me things like hobbies, opinions on the election, tips on gaming, study tips, ect. You can leave more than 1 question in the reviews ****. Or if you don't want anyone to see what you ask, PM me.**

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns Percy. And Annabeth. But not the guy that they're about to meet :P. **

**NEXT UPDATE IS ON TEUSDAY **

**VIII**

**Percy**

As Percy stabbed and disintegrated another of those stupid, annoying dracaena, he wondered where monsters killed in Tartarus went. Did they simply reform after Percy and Annabeth left? Did they scatter and slowly reform somewhere else? Or did they get destroyed for all eternity?

"Stupid monsters," Annabeth mumbled, kicking the dust remains of the dracaena. "What is Gaea thinking?"

Percy sighed and walked on. That weird wind pushed them ahead, like someone wanted them to get to the Doors quicker. Gaea? Most likely. The Gods? Those stupid cowards didn't even dare come here.

Time passed, as Percy's mind idly thought about random things like family, camp, school and such. Soon, the red sky became a deep shade of black, signaling night in Tartarus. Percy sat down, leaning on a rock, and kissed Annabeth quickly, who pushed him away playfully.

Percy still didn't understand Tartarus, even though they'd been in here for almost a week. Neither he or Annabeth got thirsty or hungry, although he was often tired.

They sat in silence for a while, until Annabeth asked the question that Percy had on his mind ever since this Giant War started. "Percy," she whispered, "Do you ever feel that…. That you get tired of being the leader? That you just want to step down and retire into a more quiet life? That you're just a pawn of the gods?"

Percy answered truthfully. "Yeah, I do, Annabeth. The world is just so screwed up! Why, out of all the people on this planet, does it have to be ME? Why can't someone else step up and be the leader? Sometimes, I just want the gods to forget us. Pretend that we never existed. Let us live our own lives, not as the toys of the gods." He balled his fists,

Normally, if they were in civilization, Percy would already be a pile of dust. But the gods had no way of knowing what happened here, or the Titan War would never have started.

Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but before she could talk, a raspy voice spoke, "Is that what you think?" The voice sounded as if it hadn't spoken in millennia.

Annabeth's knife and Riptide were already halfway out of their sheaths when a wave of pure energy blasted Percy backwards 10 feet. He landed on his back and scraped his elbow. His vision was blurred.

A dark figure was standing over him, but it didn't seem to be armed. As Percy's vision cleared, he could make out more features. The humanoid shape had the features of a stereo-typical Wall Street stock trader. He had golden eyes. They looked familiar. TOO familiar. He knew who this person was, yet didn't have any clue.

The person was black. Not like African black, but completely covered in the darkest version of the color available. It looked as if this person had been dipped in dark ash. His hair was the same color as his skin, but it was pretty difficult to separate it from the face. "Who…." Percy asked.

The figure smiled warmly at him. He squatted down, his features now clearly visible to Percy. "You don't recognize me? I was your worst enemy for years," the guy said. Still, no memories stirred.

To his right, Annabeth inhaled sharply and scrambled away from them. Her eyes were wide in realization. "No way…" she muttered. "What do you want?"

Percy was really tired of not knowing this guy now. "Hold it. Could someone tell me WHO this is?!" he demanded.

He stood up, and the black thing rose. He was about Percy's mother's height. Suddenly, his memory snapped. It was HIM. "No way. This is not you. There is no way." Percy stumbled away from him.

"Yes. It IS me. How nice to see you again, Percy."

Percy raised Riptide. "Kronos. What. Do. You. Want."

**PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME FOR THE INSANELY SHORT CHAPTER! It was only 2 pages on Microsoft Word 12 font *gags*, which is like EXTREMELY little. But I wanted a cliffhanger chapter, so I hope it was good enough. I was never good at Rickhangers. In fact, I never actually properly learned how to write stories, because LA classes never covered it. So I basically self-taught myself how to organize paragraphs, use vocab, write dialogue, ect. Leave in Reviews how well you think I taught myself. Next chapter will be Percy again (No Annabeth until next Tartarus scene). I can tell this Chapter kinda sucked, but whatev**

**Now, next topic of interest. "OMG OMG IT'S THE TITAN OF TIME PERCYS GOING TO DIE!" No, I will not kill them this early in this book, if I decide to murder either of them at all. They prob won't die in this book, but you never know. Hehe. Tell me guys, do you even read the author notes? If you do, be sure to include it in the reviews.**

**Ok so I was actually thinking of writing a one-shot spinoff, if Kronos actually froze Percy and Annabeth in time for a year and a half. Do you think I should? It will put this story on hold for a week or two, but I'll make sure it's worth the wait. Vote on a poll I will put up in my profile. The voting will end after chapter 10 is released, so a week from today. PLEASE VOTE, I really want to know your opinion on this. If you seriously dislike this idea, be sure to vote no. I want plz at least 20 votes. After all, I have 60+ followers, so if a 3****rd**** of you could vote, I would be extremely happy. It won't be to much action, just what would happen they were assumed KIA**

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter **

**Song of the Chapter- Untitled (How could this happen to me) by Simple Plan**

**Entertainment of the Chapter- Team Fortress 2**

**Quote of the Chapter- A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.**

**Replies to reviews**

**Amiee Davidson- You see, that's the problem. There is no good book series without SOME sort of a tragedy. So yes, someone (2 people actually, according to the prophecy) will get killed permanently. No coming back to life or anything. Sorry, but I feel its necessary. Idk why that would be a "let down," though.**

**Charlotte Cross- Thanks, I will try to make the humor a little more diverse in the future.**

**Annabeth 777- Next chapter is Percy too. Also, all the mushy camp moments are over. Lots of action and some romance to come :D**

**Reviewer- I am already married to the story. NO STEALING D:**

**Dillion Adcock- The laptop didn't fall to Tartarus, Annabeth just couldn't find it. Maybe it was hidden by the silk or the statue or something. **

**Brightpath2- The death is still a long time away. No need to worry yet **


	9. Percy IX

**THAT'S RIGHT! I SURVIVED FRANKENSTORM SANDY. TAKE THAT DIRTY GODS! **

**L1berty0rD34th-1  
Olympians- 0 **

**Truly a miracle I am still here.**

**Question time to those who asked! **

Question: Tips for Writing.

1. Draft. Alot. Every chapter needs at lesat 3 drafts for it to be even decent. More is always better, but make sure you have the time.  
2. Grammer and spelling. A reader likes a neat story.  
3. Take advice from reviewers, family, teachers, friends, ect. They view the story differently from you, and will offer good tips.  
4. Believe in yourself. I know this sounds corny and cheesy, but you won't do any good to yourself being a nervous wreck. It certainly won't improve your story. At least fake confidence whenever you read a paper, story or post something on Fanfiction or Wattpad.  
5. Its OK to steal ideas. True originality is very hard to come by these days. Just remember to give due credit and try to write the idea in your own way.  
6. Recieve inspiration. Wether its your mom giving you donuts (o nom nom nom) or listening to your favorite music (my fav is 2 steps from hell), find something to keep you going. Do not give up a story unless there's some serious emergency.  
7. Organization. Make sure you don't have too many characters, or the reader will be confused.  
8. Realism. Make the story as realistic to the world as possible. Don't make crazy ideas because you're short on time. In my opinion, its better to have an incomplete, good story rather than a sloppy, unrealistic and fake one. An example of this- go onto Wattpad and search a user called jasongrace567. He wrote a great MoA series, but towards the end, his deadline made the story stray quite a bit from what would be considered possible in the Greek Mythological world.  
Hope these helped! :D

Question- Do u play Minecraft?

A little, though I am primarily a Total War fan. CAN'T WAIT FOR ROME II!

QUestion- Do you live NY or NJ (related to Sandy)

NY, though where I live, I feel i got hit lightly. My heart goes out to those in lower Manhattan, Statan Island, Jersey Shore, Brooklyn, and all the other places I can't think of.

Question- Will Kronos help Percy and Annabeth?

Read the chapter.

(PM) Question- What video games do you play?

I am a Total War fan, though I also play a vareity of games including Counter Strike, Battlefield, Halo, ArmA 2 (DayZ is awesome), Mount and Blade, Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, and others. I do not play Call of Duty.

Question (PM)- Are you ever going to start another story?

Yes, sometime around chapter 20, I will start drafting. Vote on my channel, PM me or review what kind you want.

Question- R u Rick?

No. Read below.

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns all the characters. Sadly, I am not him.**

**Sorry for OOC Kronos, but I don't blame him for not wanting to be stuck in hell for eternity. ENJOY**

**IX**

**Percy**

"Kronos. What. Do. You. Want." Percy asked through gritted teeth.

The lord of time smiled like they were 2 friends screwing around. He opened his arms. "To greet an old friend!" he said. Annabeth gagged behind Percy.

Percy sighed. "Hey, if you want to hand us over to Gaea, let's just fight and get it over with."

Kronos's smile faded. He sneered instead, "You suspect I work for Gaea, Jackson? Is that what you think? I AM KRONOS. I work for NO ONE! Not even my mother. Oh, she's very convincing, but I have better things in store than trying to abduct you two."

Percy didn't show it, but he was extremely relieved. IN this state, he doubted he and Annabeth could take Kronos. Last time they fought, they couldn't even get close to defeating him conventionally. Kronos's face contorted into a look of bitterness. He looked down and sighed. "Percy Jackson, all I ever wanted was to be my own master. When I ruled before the gods overthrew me, it was really Gaea telling me what to do. When I invaded Olympus, I hoped that I could regain that former position, this time without a knife held at my throat, its owner whispering into my ears."

Percy could tell from his tone and look that he really was bitter. He could relate to it. The gods had used him to many times, and Percy felt like he deserved a break after all he and Annabeth had been through. He lowered his sword hesitantly. "So what do you want then?"

Kronos frowned. It looked pretty weird to see the a titan do that. "I don't want much, Jackson. I cannot kill you or the girl. The Ancient Laws forbid any immortal to attack a mortal, unless attacked first, as you may remember. But I WILL give you a few pointers."

Percy lowered his sword, but didn't put it away. He motioned for Annabeth to relax. She seemed hesitant, but sheathed her dagger (**Dagger, knife. Not much difference) **as well.

Kronos started talking. "First off, that breeze that's been forcing you to move in a certain direction- that's Gaea. She wants you to get to the Doors for whatever reason. Also, you're friends up in the real world have just started their quest for the Doors of Death."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief that his friends had made it and were heading to the House of Hades.

"One more thing. This place is pure evil, as you might have figured. Tartarus, the spirit of the Abyss himself, cannot rise because he is bound to the pit. However, the power he holds here is enough to, over time, drive you insane."

Percy's mouth dropped. "WHAT!?"

Kronos waved him away. "It's not instantaneous. But over time, your mind will start collapsing. Eventually, you will be reduced to a drooling hunk of meat. So I suggest you hurry. You have, oh, maybe a month at best?"

"Um, OK?" Percy asked. He opened his mouth to speak again, but just then, his head exploded in agonizing pain. Percy's knees buckled, and he yelled out. Images so horrible he couldn't even describe flashed through his head rapidly.

He collapsed, ready to pass out, but everything stopped as soon as it began. The pain stopped, the images ceased. He laid on the floor, panting for breath. "Percy," Annabeth muttered behind her weakly. "What… was that?" She was on her elbows and knees, head drooping, breathing heavily.

"That would be one of the attempts the Abyss has made to destroy your mind," Kronos said cheerfully. "You will resist at first, but it's like a battering ram. Each strike weakens your fortifications, until the gate finally collapses and the besiegers ransacks the city. Or in this case, your sanity." He applauded like he was at a theatre.

Percy wanted to murder Kronos, but it seemed time wasn't on his side.

"I will take my leave now, and leave you with a friend." Kronos whistled. A sickening crunch came from behind Percy. As Kronos dissolved, he whipped around and saw her. Arachne.

Annabeth backed up a few steps and groaned. "Why can't you just die!" She complained.

Arachne hissed. "You will not fool me this time, daughter of Athena." She began tramping forward slowly.

Percy backed up a bit, his natural reflexes taking over. Percy's eyes sharpened, and he could feel the effect his adrenaline rush was having. As Arachne lunged forward with her right leg, Percy sidestepped and quickly stabbed it in the side of her left leg.

Riptide sunk several inches deep into the spider queen's leg. She hissed in pain, quickly withdrawing several feet. For a few minutes, Percy and Annabeth, whose leg was almost completely healed from the ambrosia, skirmished with Arachne.

Nothing happened except for the spider getting angrier and Percy receiving a few small cuts. Then things went wrong.

Annabeth stumbled as she put slightly to much weight on her bad leg, and Arachne took the chance to lash out. Percy quickly stepped in and attempted to block the blow. It caught on Riptide. Then Arachne pushed the blade downward, twisting Percy's arm painfully and causing him to drop Riptide.

Another leg came from his unprotected left and slammed into Percy's left leg, sweeping his feet out. He fell on his back, landing painfully. Hissing in victory, a certain goddess of spiders (who will not be named) jumped forward with all 8 legs, slamming into Annabeth and sending them both flying backwards.

"Annabeth!" Percy shouted and jumped back onto his feet. He brought out Riptide from his pocket and stepped forward to stab Arachne in her massive butt. She rolled away, leaving a very angry Annabeth cursing as she brushed herself off. Annabeth nodded at Percy, and then darted off to the side, holding her knife in a way Percy had never seen before. It was a very loose grip held awkwardly.

Percy approached Arachne from the front. She instantly zeroed in on him, hissing disgusting spider foam and clicking her jaws.

Percy battled with it for a few seconds, exchanging lightning fast swipes and blocks. However, Percy only had one weapon and Arachne had 4 legs to use as spears. As Percy blocked an overhead swing from Arachne, another leg came from around and smashed into his exposed ribs. Fortunately, the sides of Arachne's claws weren't sharp, but the force shot Percy sideways 5 feet.

His eyesight was burry, and he couldn't get up. His ears were ringing. Percy saw the Spiderwoman approach him, ready to deliver a killing blow. Then without warning, she stumbled to the side. Arachne's face held one last look of surprise and confusion, before disintegrating into wherever monsters killed in Tartarus go. A knife with no owner clattered to the floor. Percy pushed himself onto his feet, and picked up Annabeth's knife. She walked over, all cut up and bruised, still limping. Her shirt was torn on the elbow with a suspicious line of red around the tear.

"Hey," she said mildly and snatched her knife out of Percy's hand. "You ok?"

Percy responded by delivering a quick kiss to her cheek Annabeth pushed him away, and sat down on a large rock nearby.

"Well, I finally killed her," she said.

Percy smiled. "Yes, you did. The first person to ever do so. And a child of Athena, no less," he said. "Why couldn't you just stab her?"

Annabeth gave him a look as if the answer were obvious. "Because I'm a child of Athena. How am I supposed to approach her with a damaged ankle? Besides, I always wanted to test if my blade was balanced for throwing."

"And if it wasn't?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shurgged. "I supossed you'd have been killed. Besi-" She was cut off by a flash of bronze. Everything happened so fast.

A sharp tipped weapon pierced Annabeth's chest and sent her sprawling. Blood flew everywhere. Percy, before he could react, stumbled forward as wave of horrible pain shot across his chest. He gasped. Percy's knees buckled. Everything started going back. Fortunately, he didn't have to experience the pain for along, as another sharp pain shot through his head as something slammed it, and everything wen't black.

**Not dead yet, don't worry. Vote for my future story.**

**So I think I've developed a coffee adiction. I pretty much can't live without a cup of it (w/ 1 sugar) every morning. French Vanilla is my favorite beans.**

**ASSASSIN'S CREED III IS REALESED WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT! I've played it for about 2 hours on my friend's XBOX (I'm waiting for my own version when it comes out for PC) AND IT IS FCKING AMAZING! **

***READ* So you guys know in the last chapter and during Percy's fight with the twins, he starts showing signs of tiredness and begins to actually question whether all of it was worth it. This is an ENORMOUS point in character development. He's not the carefree, seaweed brain son of Poseidon anymore. Keep this in mind, as Percy's weariness of this fight will play an enormous role in the end of this story.**

**Quote of the Chapter- ****Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.**

**Song of the Chapter- Soldiers' Chant from the Rome Total War Soundtrack by Jeff Van Dyck. **

**Entertainment of the Chapter- ASSASSIN'S CREED III!**

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter. REVIEW AND FAVORITE! I really appreciate them :)**


	10. Jason X

**Chapter 10 is here! 1/6 of the way done with the book (yeah, I plan to have about 60 or so chapters). Enjoy!**

**Oh yes, check out the SWEET new cover I found :D.**

**I might do some sort of AC/PJO crossover. Not any Assassin's Creed characters, but same plot (Assassins vs Templars), same sweat gear (plus modern stuff), and Percy and Annabeth are a pair of elite murderers aiming to take down Abstergo Industries (Gaea/Templars). Sounds kind of corny, I know, but it will include sweat action, epic gear and moves, a plot with twists and turns, and of course, Percabeth. Though might be some Thalico too. **

**but probably I will do an after-the war romance story with breakups, relationships, jealousy and sadness.**

**And PJO-HoO-KC-HGLuver about the subject of school, here's my schedule- Physics, Geometry, Tech (3), Gym/Phys Ed, Life Science, History (ancient world), Lunch/break, Free Period (:D), French and dismissal.**

**And to all you PC nerds like me, here's my computer specs- **

Western Digital WD Green WD20EARX 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

RAZER Black Widow Ultimate Mass Effect 3 Edition RZ03-00381800-R3M1 Black USB Wired Gaming Keyboard

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

ASUS VS278Q-P Black 27" 1ms (GTG) Widescreen LED Monitor Built-in Speakers

RAZER Black Wired Laser Naga Molten Special Edition Gaming Mouse

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock

Rosewill FORTRESS Series FORTRESS-650 650W Continuous 50°C,80 PLUS Platinum Certified, Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V v2.92,SLI Ready, Crossfire Ready, Active- PFC Power Supply

Microsoft Windows 8 Home Premium 64-bit

**It's pretty damn sweet, yeah? I earned all the money by coaching for the local kids soccer ($10/hour).**

**Disclaimer-Rick owns the Percy Jackson characters**

**X**

**Jason**

The strike force had already disappeared from the horizon. Leo was flying the ship. Coach Hedge was screwing around with the portside ballistae. Piper was talking with Hazel. Frank was turning into different animals. Nico was crashing in Percy's cabin. An average day on the Argo II. Until now.

The Argo was making its way across the Atlantic at 30 knots an hour. When Jason asked why Leo wasn't flying, he replied to save power, even though the ship had a glowing blue power core you saw in those Iron Man movies that produced unlimited energy. Jason was staring into the horizon when something caught his eye.

It was just a dark smudge, but the thing was definitely heading on intercept course toward the Argo II. "Leo!" Jason called up. "What's that thing to our right?"

Leo peered through his binoculars. He paled, and replied, "Its him!"

Jason frowned. "Who?"

"Chrysaor! Looks like he's back for revenge!"

Jason swore. "Arm the ship for broadside!"

Leo replied, "Roger! Ballista are loaded….. Cannons are engaged! M26 MLRS battery is on target! Centurion C-RAM Anti Air systems are up! The Argo II is ready to kickass!"

Yeah, Leo had installed a few new weapons during the break.

The alarm sounded, and everyone scrambled. Coach Hedge whooped and grabbed a ballista. Frank turned into an eagle to do some recon. Hazel and Piper both grabbed another giant crossbow.

Epic music started playing on the ship (**Search my previous song of the chapters :)**, which Jason thought was a bit unnecessary, though he didn't deny it made him more alert.

"Stand clear! MLRS battery firing!" Leo shouted and smashed a button. Jason barely had time to cover his ears before a massive _FUUUUU _went up and 12 rockets launched into the air in rapid succession. Even from several miles away, Jason could hear the BOOMs as the rockets exploded midair, the air-burst rockets raining massive amounts of shrapnel over Chrysaor's ship.

Jason didn't know how the pirate king survived the strike, but he didn't stop approaching. A flash went up from his trireme. Had something on the ship exploded? Then, less than a split second later, Jason realized it was a cannon.

Yelling, "HIT THE DECK!" He dove behind the line of shields lined around the ship. A shell flew several inches over Jason's head. It exploded several hundred yards behind the Argo II, but it was too close for comfort.

Coach Hedge fired his ballista, but it missed. Hazel and Piper were still struggling to winch back the massive crossbow.

"Leo!" Jason shouted towards the helm. "Make sure they don't board us!"

Leo saluted and slammed his fist on another button. The new cannon broadside opened up full power on Chrysaor's ship. 9 shells filled with hurt exploded against his ship, wrecking chaos across the hull. The sheer force of the explosions almost tipped the ship over.

But still, the pirate trireme didn't stop. If anything, it was now even faster. Chrysaor was less than a mile away now, and another cannon from his ship went off. This time, the aim was true. Despite the waves rocking both ships, a cannonball smashed into the shields lining the Argo II, less than 10 feet away from Jason.

Jason held up his arms as wooden and bronze shrapnel rained over him, giving him a fair amount of cuts. After a few moments, he dropped his arms and inspected the damage. Nothing bad, just a few broken shields and plenty of debris. Piper called out, "Jason!"

"I'm fine," he shouted back, though his arms were stinging painfully.

Piper ran over, and her mouth dropped. She was about to say something, when the MLRS battery opened up again. 12 more explosions rocketed Chrysaor's ship. This time, some noticeable damage was caused. The pirate hull was dented and smashed, while the deck had craters and holes everywhere.

Piper opened her mouth again, and said, "No you're not. Look at your arms."

Jason looked down, and gasped. His arms were soaked in red. Pieces of wood and small bits of shiny bronze were lodged everywhere. He felt nauseous at the sight, and it was all he could to not to throw up all over Piper. "How…" he muttered.

Piper helped him up. "Come on, we have to get you to the infirmary."

Jason didn't argue. The stinging in his arms was now upped to a feeling like he had been dipped in lava, soaked in molten lead, and then stabbed repeatedly.

Piper helped him downstairs, the sounds of smashing wood and firing cannons becoming duller as they went down. Jason's mind was feeling woozy, and his eyes were drooping. Just as he reached the bottom step, Jason suddenly felt a spasm of pain shoot up his body. He inhaled sharply, and then everything went black.

*Line break*

When he woke up again, Jason was in a sick bay bed. He looked at his arms, which were bandaged completely in slightly red cloth. There were no sounds of war, which meant either Leo had fought off Chrysaor, or the other demigods had been over whelmed and his room was really a prison cell.

Jason hoped it was the former.

Fortunately, he was right. Piper opened the door and came in just as Jason pushed himself up to a sitting position, careful not to strain his arms. "Hey," she said. "How are you doing?"

Jason quickly kissed Piper's check. "I'm fine, thanks to you," he smiled. "What happened?"

Piper shrugged. "Nothing interesting. We exchanged a few cannon shots, then Chrysaor peeled off and ran away. Leo says there was no major hull damage, mainly just a few holes and tons of shrapnel everywhere. No one was hurt except for you, although Festus got bonked in the head once by a cannonball."

She helped Jason out the sick bay and up the stairs. Frank walked by them and nodded at Jason. On the deck, Leo was working furiously patching up the Argo II, while Hazel swept up debris in a dustbin and dumped it overboard.

"Isn't that pollution?" Jason muttered.

"We can't really put it anywhere else, can we? Hopefully the fish are smart enough to think, _Shiny = bad._ How are you feeling?" asked Hazel.

"I'm fine, thanks."

The rest of the day flew by as Jason tried to help clean up the ship.

That night, he was lying on his bed, when someone knocked on the door. "Jason?" It was Piper.

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Come on," Piper said. Jason hesitated for a moment, then followed Piper out onto the deck.

Piper had already laid out a blanket on the deck with the magic cooler and a dish of cookies and small tea cakes. She motioned for him to lie down with her.

For a while, they said nothing. Then Piper spoke up.

"Jason, when this war is over, where will you go?"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"I mean, are you going back to Camp Jupiter, or will you stay at Camp Half Blood?"

Jason didn't know what to say. "I don't know, Piper. Let's just survive this war first, and then think about where to go later." He kissed Piper.

"Ok then," Piper smiled.

She leaned closer against Jason. He enjoyed her warmth. When she pulled him in for another, real kiss, Jason felt as if his body was melting. He wished he could live like this forever.

Unfortunately, just then, something cold pressed against Jason's neck. "Get up, don't make a sound!" A voice hissed.

Jason knew the voice. He gulped. It was Chrysaor.

No updates unti the 16th of NOvember. Sorry everyone, but 1) My life is screwed up right now. 2) I'm REALLY behind on chapters. 3) I'm starting to regret 2 sciences classes. I am crushed under weekly essays in 3 different classes, tons of textbook assignments, piano and the school Science Olympia team, which I'm on.

**An extremely short sort-of Jasper moment. I'm not good at romance, but in a couple of chapters, I might make a fluff scene. **

**Sneaky, sneaky. This chapter was pretty long in my opinion (1.5k words), and next chapter is Nico again. What will happen to the crew? **

**Quote of the Chapter- Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright, until you hear them speak.**

**Entertainment of the Chapter- Just Cause 2 (ahh, the joys of driving cars off skyscrapers, rope-darting people, skydiving, murdering, driving farm tractors and blowing shit up. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the game ****)**

**Song of the Chapter- Viva la Vida by Coldplay**

**Peace out and as always, see you in the next chapter :)**


	11. Nico XI

**Hey again, everybody! A little epic Nico stealth this chapter. Next chapter is Hazel POV, and her love triangle is finally solved (not really)!**

**Disclaimer- Rick owns all**

**I've come up with the ending for my story. And it is going to be DEPRESSING. Sorry, but I hope you'll understand! Rick has never killed anyone important in PJO, which is one of the requirements for a good story- a tragedy. But it's still a while away. For now, ENJOY! **

**THANK YOU ALL FOR 200 REVIEWS! OMG I NEVER THOUGHT MY STORY WOULD BECOME THIS POPULAR! Submit questions for more Q & A!**

**To all you history/military geeks like me, in case your wondering, the Roman army in my HoH is Pre-Marian reforms. Hastati, Principes, Triarii, Equites, those dudes. Do you all want a modern version of the Marian Reforms to happen in my story? If so, the First cohort becomes a Praetorian Guard/Eagle bearers, 2****nd**** and 3****rd**** assume the positions of stand Legionary Cohorts and Praetorian Cavarly. 4****th**** and 5****th**** become all the other units- auxiliary, archers, meat shields (poor 5****th****) and those guys. Otherwise, 1****st**** cohort are Triarii, 2****nd**** and 3****rd**** are Principes, and 4****th**** and 5****th**** are Hastati, archers and equites. Also, PM me with your rants an opinions on history :D.**

So everyone, if you don't like author's notes, don't read them. All my author notes will have chapter names. Somtimes, I may make one about my life or a a video game or movie or something. Simple as that.

Follow my twitter (L1berty0rD34th) for (usually) daily updates on my story :)

**XI**

**Nico**

It was one of those times when Nico was extremely grateful for the training Camp Half Blood had given him. Chiron and the Stoll brothers had taught him to be extremely alert at all times, even when in a presumably safe haven or asleep.

His eyes shot open. Nico heard something like dolphin flippers flapping on the ground, as well as human footsteps.

He quietly got out of bed, making zero noise, and crouched in a shadow. Something was definitely wrong. Using his ears, he guessed the dolphins were about 10 feet away from his/Percy's cabin.

Another door opened, followed by a brief, quiet shuffle and a muffled scream from Hazel. Then a Nico heard a thump, and a dolphin chatter briefly before grunting. These guys, although obviously trained in raiding, had zero talent in stealth.

He waited a few moments. The footsteps got closer.

The door opened quietly, and Nico edged into the corner of his room. The shadows blended with his black clothes, making him invisible to anything more than 3 feet away. Then a guy came in.

He had a golden mask, and seemed human. Flanking him were 2 dolphin-human hybrids carrying spears. Nico remembered the story Jason told him- about Chrysaor and how Percy had beat him with Diet Coke.

One of the dolphins said in a slippery voice, "There's no one in this cabin or the girl's, lord. They were taken by the Abyss."

Chrysaor snapped, "I know! But Mother Earth told me of a son of Hades onboard this ship. He may reside in this cabin. But I guess he must be somewhere else. Search the whole ship for him. After he is found, loot this hunk of metal and then destroy it."

"Yes, lord."

The 3 figures left and closed the door. Nico stood up and crept forward. Fortunately, the dolphin man didn't close the door completely, so opening it wider made no sound.

Nico snuck out, crouching low, following Chrysaor. His eyes sharpened as adrenaline rushed through his body and his battle reflexes kicked in, ready to respond to an attack. Chrysaor headed down the stairs to the lowest level, where the storage and statue were. The 2 guards following him stopped and turned around.

Nico smiled. It was time to try out one of his newfound talents. He had always been able to shadow travel, sometimes with 1 or 2 people holding his hand. After years of honing the skill, now he could sometimes teleport things in shadows just by focusing.

He did so on the 2 dolphins, thinking about the Underworld. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the guards, stupidly standing in the shadows, fell through on a one way ticket to hell.

Nico's eyesight blurred for a moment, but he instantly refocused and moved on.

The son of Hades barely made a sound as he headed down the stairs. Nico quietly thanked Leo for not making the Argo II's floor creaky. Nobody else barred his way as he moved down to the lowest level.

*20 minute writer's block right here*

He crept through the corridors toward the storage where the Athena Parthenos was, stabbing an unfortunate dolphin-man with his Stygian Iron sword on the way. The door was open when he arrived.

He peeked in and took in the scene. All the other demigods aboard the ship were either on the floor unconscious or tied up and gagged. A dozen warriors watched them. Chrysaor himself paced around the storage room, examining the cargo and Athena Parthenos.

"Greek fire, cannon rounds, oh! Drachma!" He muttered to himself. A dolphin came over and chattered something to him, but Nico somehow understood it.

"_My lord, we've searched the whole ship. No sign of the Hades spawn, my soldiers tell me." _

Chrysaor snapped towards him. He took a step forward, and his lieutenant backed away. "He's on this ship! If you didn't find him, SEARCH AGAIN!" He bellowed. The dolphin nodded rapidly and chattered into his radio.

Nico took the chance and leapt into the room just as both Chrysaor and his lieutenant turned away. He quickly ducked behind a tall crate of ballista bolts.

Nico needed a distraction. There was no way he could take on Chrysaor and all the dolphins. He couldn't summon skeleton warriors because they were flying. Fortunately, Nico didn't have to wait long. Just a few moments after he ducked behind the crates, something slammed into the Argo II viciously.

The mother warship tipped dangerously to the side, sending crates sliding across the floor. Then the ship righted itself.

Festus clicked and whirred, but nobody seemed to notice except Nico and Leo. Leo's eyes widened, and he screamed, but the gag muffled him. None of the guards paid him any attention. Chrysaor muttered something about a bad autopilot and continued on.

Nico swore. He had counted on whatever hit the boat to send the dolphins into disarray. Nico prayed for it to strike again.

It did. This time, the dolphins started to notice something. Chrysaor frowned upwards. He called all of his dolphins to come with him except his lieutenant, which Chrysaor ordered to watch the prisoners.

As soon as Chrysaor left, Nico crept out behind the crate. Leo caught his eye. He quickly looked away so the dolphin wouldn't notice Nico.

The stygian iron sword went through tissue and bone like a hot knife through butter. Instantly, the sword's target dissolved into yellow powder.

Nico quickly cut the bonds of his friends, and fed some ambrosia to Frank and Hazel, who were unconscious. They woke up quickly, and Nico ushered everyone up. "Come on," he hissed. "Chrysaor is distracted by a monster attacking the ship. We have to hurry."  
Leo whispered, "Dude! Hurry up then! I really don't want to have to put down and repair AGAIN! Besides, we don't want to lose the statue!" Nico threw everyone a sword and shield from a weapons bucket nearby and they headed up.

LIIIIIINEEEEEEEEBRRRRRRRRREE EEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Up on deck, chaos reigned. The dolphins were being attacked by a huge lion like creature. It had the head and body of a lion, with a goat head sticking up from the middle of its back. Its tail was a snake serpent. The goat head was spitting poison at the dolphins, while the lion head breathed fire, and the serpent tail bit any dolphin to close.

Nobody noticed the demigods as they finished climbing the stairs. "What is that?" Piper muttered.

Nico recognized the monster. He swore. "It's the Chimera. Percy told me he once was attacked by it on the St. Louis Arch and only survived by jumping into the Mississippi."

Jason groaned. "Great. If HE couldn't beat it, how can we?" Nico was surprised Jason just said Percy was better than him. Being a son of Jupiter, you usually want to be the best.

"WE have to get under it," Frank said. "There's no protection there. If we try to attack it from above, one of those 3 heads will bite us, poison us, and then set us on fire."

The dolphins were panicking by now, and some were jumping overboard into the Atlantic below, despite that the ocean was about 2 miles below. Chrysaor stalked right past Nico. Fortunately, he seemed to realize a Chimera was a bigger threat then the demigods. "STAND YOUR GROUND, COWARDS!" He roared. His golden mask turned to face Chimera.

Chrysaor raised his sword and started attacking the Chimera. They exchanged fire, bronze, teeth and poison. Then, Chrysaor made a mistake trying to attack the lion head. He dodged a burst of flame, and thrust at the lion, when the goat head suddenly opened his mouth and spit a line of acid straight into the pirate's face.

Even Nico couldn't help but feel bad for Chrysaor as his mask melted instantly, screaming in pain as the acid burned his flesh. He turned around and Nico saw his face for a moment.

Chrysaor looked disturbingly similar to Jason. They both had similar features. It was almost as if they were related. The pirate lord's face was scarred terribly, extremely horrible. Then Chrysaor flailed away from sight, jumping overboard.

Nico didn't have time to think, because just then, the Chimera turned its sights on the demigods.

"Umm, guys? I think we should run," Nico said.

Jason backed away a few steps. "Good idea."

And run they did.

**Why such a late update, you ask? Well, one of my dozens of ideas just floating around in my documents section hit me an inspiration, so I started writing it. The next update will be Saturday again, sorry! But I will post the one-shot with chapter 12 (I hope). Or, I may just make an extra good chapter 12**

**Quote of the chapter- Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then speak and remove all doubt.**

**Song of the Chapter- Fireflies by Owl City**

**Entertainment of the Chapter- Halo 4 (even though I never played that game :P)**


	12. Hazel XII

**Sup everyone! This chapter is not really Chimera action, sorry! But this is really just a filler chapter. Next chapter is either Leo POV or Frank POV, I haven't decided yet.**

**Disclaimer-**

**Me- You better run, Hazel.**

**Hazel- I know! Shut up or I'll bury you in cursed jewels!**

**Me- Sheesh fine! Rick owns you by the way.**

**Hazel- *smirks evily***

**I am also open as a beta-reader now, if anyone is interested.**

**XII**

**Hazel**

Hazel tore off without waiting for the others, her mind desperately trying to come up with a plan.

She rolled to the side as acid landed right next to her, burning the wooden deck. Behind him, Leo grumbled, "I'll get the Chimera for that."

Hazel couldn't keep running forever. The back of the ship was rapidly approaching.

Jason yelled, "Duck and cover!" Hazel instinctively dove onto the ground so hard, she'd be removing splinters from her chin for the next couple of years.

The air sparked, and a lightning bolt hit the Chimera. It flattened, but stood up again quickly and growled, the lion head blowing fire.

Unfortunately, the flames shot right at Hazel. She yelped and tried to protect her face with her arms, but then Leo jumped in front of her. "Leo!" she screamed, temporarily forgetting his fire powers. Leo swatted the flames away and shot a white hot fireball at the Chimera, burning its snake head and causing it to hiss in protest and pain.

Leo quickly helped her up. "Thanks," she said. Leo grinned. "Fire can't kill me, you know." Another lightning bolt hit the Chimera's lion head, and it collapsed again, dazed and hurt. Hazel drew her cavalry sword and moved around, trying to get a clear path to stab the cursed Echidna spawn.

She saw the chance when a giant eagle swooped in, dodged the goat's anti-air acid and raked his claws against the goat's eyes. It bleeted in agony and Hazel jumped in. In one quick stroke, a goat head fell onto the ground and disintegrated.

Hazel rolled aside as the serpent tail bit at her and hacked at it, but missed. The lion head turned its body toward her, and opened its mouth. It got a mouthful of Leo Fire and roared.

Hazel dove to the side as the lion blasted flames, singing her long hair. She hacked the lion's head, screaming bloody murder as another lightning bolt blew up the poor snake tail. With all 3 heads gone, all that was left was a hunky piece of Chimera meat. Hazel slipped a ruby into her pocket and sheathed her sword.

Piper was standing there in shock from watching the entire murder of a Chimera, but she quickly shook out of it and stood embarrassed at not doing anything.

Leo walked over still smoking and elbowed Hazel. "Good job out there," he smiled. Hazel blushed slightly as Frank landed back on the deck and turned back into a human. Hazel thought she saw his eyes twitch a little when he saw Leo talking with her.

Hazel frowned.

She walked over to Frank, who was purposely looking the other way. "Frank…" She started. "Me and Leo are just friends. There's nothing to be jealous about."

Frank turned towards her and scowled, and Hazel winced. She never really liked when anybody had an upset expression. "Sure doesn't seem that way."

"Listen. I liked his GRANDFATHER, OK?" She tried to say, but Frank wasn't taking any of it.

"And because of that, suddenly your all mooney eyed over him!"

Hazel didn't know why Frank was suddenly acting so jealous, but it was pissing Hazel and her Roman pride.

"I'm not 'mooney eyed' over him!" She screamed back.

Then he did something Hazel could never really forgive him for, even if it was because Gaea was influencing him. He slapped her.

In the split second that she registered the pain, Hazel confirmed it. She and Frank were done.

Hazel stumbled back, blinking back tears. Frank blinked too, and then stepped forward, reaching his hand out. "Ha-Hazel, look. I di-I didn't mean to-"

"Get away!" Hazel screamed and drew my spatha, my arm wavering. Without another word, she ran down the stairs blindly and collided with someone. Through my vision, I could see a latino person.

"What happened?" Leo asked gently.

Hazel told Leo what happened through tears.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry," Leo apologized.

She looked at him through tears. "Why?"

Leo looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry for trying to make a move on you, and trying to steal you fro-"

"I'm not going to date Frank anymore," Hazel whispered.

Leo looked shocked. "Why?"

Hazel sighed. "I don't know, he just doesn't seem right for me."

The 2 of them sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds. And then suddenly Hazel jumped and Leo fell backwards.

Oh gods, did she just kiss him? Leo looked at Hazel for a moment and then stepped forward and put his lips on hers again, and this time, Hazel didn't resist.

At some point, Hazel started crying again. "What's wrong?" Leo asked.

She stammered something out about how Frank would feel.

"Look at me, Haze," Leo said and turned Hazel's red eyes into Leo's.

"He chose what he did, and if he wants you back, he'll apologize, ok? Stay strong. Leo the awesome is here to save you, ok?" Leo flashed her a crooked smile.

And Hazel laughed.

xX

When Leo walked up onto the deck later that day, Hazel slumped against the side of the Argo II, tired from another day of Leo's "How to use technology" lesson, absent mindedly twirling a small ruby between her hands. When she saw Leo, Hazel quickly put it away and gestured for Leo to come.

The sun was setting, giving the sky a beautiful purplish-orange glow. The breeze was cool as Leo's ship cut through the air. Leo sat down next to Hazel. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Just about the quest, everything." Hazel made one of those epic-stare-of-into-the-horizon sort of things. "You know, how the gods push us around and Gaea and all that."

"It'll be all right." Leo shifted uncomfortably. "We'll make it out of this alive."

Hazel smiled. "Yes he is. Yes he is."

She leaned in for a kiss impulsively (Hazel hated her hormones) and Leo delivered it to her. It was short, but sweet.

Hazel felt that same sweet oblivion from when they first contacted several hours earlier, like she could live this moment happily forever.

If only life were that simple.

"Hazel, listen, ok?" Leo suddenly said as he pulled away. "I want you to go to bed tonight and really consider who you want. I was told once that if you let go of something and it comes back to you, then it's yours. And I just don't feel right stealing after how much I did of it when I was running away."

Hazel was speechless. "Leo…"

"Just do it, ok? For me."

Hazel blurted out before she could stop it, "I will."

**Still short, but better than last time. (Edited 3/18/13)**

**Quotes of the Chapter-Silence is golden, duct tape is silver.**

**Song of the Chapter- Gangman Style by PSY**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Rome: Total War. A MUST PLAY, RTW IS FRICKING AMAZING! **


	13. Leo XIII

**13, the unlucky chapter. I have a feeling this chapter will be bad.**

**Quick, go on youtube and search a user name birgirpall! Ah, he makes the most hilarious videos EVER.**

**Ignore the shortness of the chapter**

**Disclaimer- **

**Me: *looks into a mirror* Still not Rick yet, I guess he owns the characters.**

**Rick: *sneaks up behind me and taps my shoulder me* MWAHAHAHA I OWN PERCY JACKSON! **

**Me- STALKER O_O**

**Keep voting on my account for what 2****nd**** story you want.**

**I just found out a quote by Winston Churchill- "If you're going through hell, keep going." I swear, it made me think of Percy and Annabeth so much when I read that.**

**XIII**

**Leo**

Yeah, OK. Maybe Leo HAD lied to Frank. He was moving in on his girl. But Hazel was pretty, and didn't they break up?

Or did they?

It might've just been that Hazel did what she did impulsively after their first argument, and maybe wanted to go back to him? Leo had to admit, he was a little jealous of Frank.

Early in the morning, as the sun rose up, Leo headed to the kitchen. He set a taco (yum) in the oven and made himself 2 cups of coffee. Tacos from Camp Half Blood's magical kitchen plates were good, but nothing could match a freshly baked steaming one, the ingredients fresh. Within seconds, both mugs were empty and Leo was refilling them.

He sat there, eating his taco for a while, until Leo heard footsteps. It was Hazel. "Hi," Leo said. Start simple, right?

Hazel smiled nervously at him. "Hi, Leo." She grabbed a plate Leo had set for the rest of the demigods, poured herself some hot chocolate, and sat across from Leo. They ate in silence for a while. Leo didn't bring up the subject of you-know-what. It was clear she was waiting for the others.

Slowly, the other demigods trickled in- Jason, Nico, Piper, and finally, Frank. After a few moments of awkward silence, Leo cleared his throat. Hazel's hands tightened around her coffee mug, and a couple of diamonds sprung up around her plate. Nobody touched them.

Leo didn't know how to say it, so he just went straight out. "So, Hazel? Did you make your decision yet?"

He probably could have said something more subtle, but Leo wanted to get this over with. If she chose Frank, then she chose Frank, and that was all. If she chose Leo, all the better.

Hazel sighed dejectedly. Everyone on the table was watching her, except Nico, who was attacking a pizza. Hey, a man's gotta eat, right?

Leo strained to hear what Hazel whispered so quietly, Hazel herself probably couldn't hear it.

Frank said, "Um, that was just a tad hard to hear. Maybe raise you voice a little?" He looked unusually confident, as if Hazel had told him in secret she would chose him, and now he just wanted to show Leo up.

Hazel whispered something again, louder this time, but not enough that Leo could hear it. "Hazel, just say it and get it over with," Frank said.

"I don't want to do this anymore with you, Frank," she blurted out suddenly. Wow, Leo had thought she would think a little more. "I'm sorry, but I just don't feel as happy."

Hazel stared blankly at her plate. Leo didn't know what to do. "Um…. Uh….. ye-… yeah, ok….," he stuttered. Leo was truly a master with words.

Frank just the room, muttering something about selfishness.

"Uh, great, Hazel." Jason took Piper out of the room. Nico sighed and left as well, muttering about Mythomatic. Only Hazel and Leo were left.

She said, "Leo? Did I choose right?" She picked at her food.

Leo shrugged. "It was your choice. Whether you think it's right or not is your choice."

Then when she kissed him, Leo changed his mind.

**Mostly a filler chapter. This story won't be much romance, because I don't know how to make romantic scenes. Tips on that are greatly appreaciated. The next chapter is Percy (finally), and then Annabeth. R & R!**

**Quote of the chapter- Whoever said "words don't hurt" never had a hard-backed dictionary hurled at their head.**

**Song of the chapter- Together We Will Live Forever from the soundtrack of "The Fountain" by Clint Mansell. ****Listen to this song, its beautiful! **

**Entertainment of the chapter- PLANETSIDE 2! Just downloaded off steam, and it. Is. Absolutely. Beautiful. Seriously. The graphics are awesome, the gameplay is engaging, the maps are HUGE, and the servers are MASSIVE (2000 players in one server!). It's for PC only, probably because consoles have limited hardware and bandwidth, and its pretty demanding, so those with an old PC, this isn't recommended for you. But check it out, this game is EPIC. Like a bigger version of Battlefield. You could literally bring hundreds of gunships and tanks and just bomb the shit out of the enemy team if you can get your team to cooperate.**

Peace out and see you in next chapter (or author's note).


	14. Percy XIV

**Ok guys, so I've decided the order of regular POVs for this story. Percy/Annabeth, Percy/Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Leo, Nico and Frank. Starting this chapter. There may be exceptions here and there, but this is mostly it. No Piper because I don't like her. A bit of a jerk, if you ask me. (plz don't)**

**Disclaimer-**

**Percy: I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU FOR WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**Me: You can't. Rick owns you, he tells you what to do. *smirk***

**Percy; *rage face***

**XIV**

**Percy**

First thought- where dafuq am I?

Second thought- Where's Annabeth?

Third thought-Am I dead?

Percy couldn't tell where he was. He was in a large room, with a wall behind him, and the other 3 out of sight. There was a torch hanging a couple feet up on the wall, and Percy could see about 10 feet outwards.

Answer to the second question- Annabeth was on the ground next to him, just coming to her senses.

As far as Percy could tell, he wasn't dead. He didn't feel hurt in any places, except for a minor headache. Annabeth looked OK as well, just a couple of cuts and bruises. No sign that she was javelin was recently hurled into her chest. It was eerily quiet.

A couple seconds later, just as Annabeth opened her eyes, a woman stepped into the light. She wore a green dress made of leaves. Her hair was a mess of roots. She had a cruel smirk on her face. The lady looked like the very earth itself. Then Percy realized it WAS the earth itself.

"Gaea." Percy grabbed Riptide out of his pocket.

"Don't bother," Gaea said. With a flick of her hand, Riptide flew out of his hand and into the darkness. Percy had a feeling that this time, it wouldn't return to his pocket for some time.

"So, I suppose you're going to take our blood and rise, yak yak yak?" Percy asked. He probably shouldn't have.

An invisible force out of nowhere slammed Annabeth in the chest. She groaned and coughed up blood.

"Hey!" Percy protested. "She had nothing to do with this!"

Gaea smiled evilly. "Well, it does make you suffer, doesn't it? 2 birds with one stone."

Percy winced. The Earth Goddess probably knew his fatal flaw was loyalty, that he couldn't bear to see anyone he loved get hurt. "Please, you can do anything. Just….. don't hurt Annabeth," he pleaded.

"But what fun would that be? I only need you two ALIVE for the 1st of August. I never said you had to be in perfect condition."

Percy's eyes widened in realization. "No, don't, please."

"Watch. Watch as I torture you very own beloved Daughter of Athena."

And with that, she left.

*linebreak*

Percy didn't know how long her screams filled the air. He was driven to the edge of insanity. They did things to Annabeth that he couldn't even describe, things that were too horrible to exist even in the deepest depths of Tartarus.

After what seemed like longer than eternity, Gaea simply shimmered and left. Just like that. Nothing said, leaving behind 2 demigods- one battered, bloody and half-dead, another driven to the edge of his sanity. And yet, Percy knew they couldn't just stay here. They had to get out of here quickly. Percy didn't know why Gaea would just leave them here unprotected, but it didn't matter right now. What matter was getting out of here.

The problem was Annabeth. She was completely soaked in blood, and was unconscious. If it came to running from a giant monster, Percy stood absolutely no chance, but he ignored that minor problem for now.

Percy picked up Annabeth bridal style and, taking a deep breath, stepped into the darkness.

Well, it wasn't really darkness. The moment Percy stepped out of the light, the spot they had been in before turned pitch black and the area he was in lit up.

He was in a corridor, with blue torches lighting the way. It was about 50 yards long. No monsters were in sight. That was a bad sign. Percy ran as quickly as he could with an unconscious girl in her arms down the corridor and looked at the 2 passageways he could take. The left and right both looked the same.

Percy went left.

For the next couple of minutes, he turned corners blindly. Nothing mattered except getting out of this wretched place. After a couple of minutes, he finally saw light. Hesitating a moment, Percy stepped into it. He thought, _That was too easy, _too soon. The moment he stepped forward, Percy felt a blinding pain in the back of his head and blacked out.

*linebreak*

When he woke up again, Percy was back at the torch ring. Everything looked exactly the same. The torch on the wall, Annabeth still unconscious beside him, the blood on the floor.

Gaea stepped into the light again. Maybe it was just Percy's horrible headache, but she had different features this time. Her eyes were an evil red.

"Percy Jackson," she cooed. "That was a naughty thing you did. And for that, the girl pays."

She raised a wicked looking weapon- a sword-looking thing with spikes protruding from the blade. It looked to be pretty heavy for smashing bones and piercing muscle.

But before Percy could think any more than that, the roof exploded and light streamed down.

**Why all these short chapters, you ask? Well, I suck at writing long chapters, And even though I"ve never been diagnosed with it, I always feel like I'm just a TINY bit dyslexic because I can't read too many words on the screen at once. I try sometimes though, and 16-18 are decent (in my opinion)**

**Song of the chapter- The trololol song (hint hint!)**

**Quote of the chapter- The only mystery in life is why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- The Fountain. A great drama romance movie. Very moving. AWESOME soundtrack.**

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter.**


	15. Annabeth XV

**Please bear with the extremely short chapters! I promise that there will be a long one in a couple of chapters when the other demigods finally hit Troy blablabla. **

And so I got alot of hate, "WHY DO YOU DO THIS!" Read this chapter. And since I posted this one VERY early, 16 won't be up until I finish writing chapter 20, sometime around next week? Next Friday, maybe,

**Disclaimer- Annabeth- Ouch**

**Me: Don't worry, Rick owns you. Anything I do doesn't really happen.**

**Annabeth- Good :D**

**And I just discovered Word's "approximate word value" isn't very accurate. The thing said this had 4000 words. **

**XV**

**Annabeth**

Fast forward to the roof blowing up. Ignore everything else that happened. Ignore the fact that she watched Percy getting tortured (A/N O_O not an error :D)

Light streamed in from the ceiling hole, and 3 creepily familiar shapes flew in. Before Annabeth could recognize who they were, one of them swooped down and air-tackled Gaea. The Earth Goddess in all her might instantly vaporized, teleporting to a safer place.

The creature looked up. Oh joy. Them. AGAIN. "Alecto," Annabeth muttered. "What do you want?"

Percy jumped, looking pretty surprised that she could talk. Really, it wasn't that painful. OK, that was a lie. It hurt worse than anything she ever experienced, but it was very short term and faded quickly if not kept up.

The other 2 Furies landed. One of them said, "Lord Hades sends his regards."

Percy muttered, "And to think that he would ever help us."

Alecto frowned. "I hope that was a joke, Jackson."

"Of course it was."

Apparently Furies weren't very intelligent, because Alecto bought it. She dropped 2 backpacks. "The gods are doing their best to help your friends above. Lord Hades does not wish for you 2 to die just yet." And she flew off.

OK, that was pretty random and quickly. Before Annabeth knew it, she and Percy were alone again with 2 backpacks. "You don't seem very hurt," Percy noted.

"What? You were the one getting pummeled," I said confused.

"What? No, it was you! I saw it with my own eyes."

"So now you think I'm blind?" I asked.

"Whatever, let's worry about that later. Check the packs," he said.

The inside was absolute Elysium. Everything they needed- weapons, nectar, ambrosia and some other demigod necessities was crammed inside.

"Wow. Who knew gods could be this generous." Annabeth stuffed some godly food into her mouth. It tasted like warm, chocolate chip cookies. The throbbing pain instantly numbed, and her vision cleared.

For a few moments, she just sat there. Then Percy stood up and said, "We have to leave. Something could attack us at any second."

They left, Percy seeming to know where they were going through the maze of walls. Soon enough, they were back in the familiar Tartarus- the sort of desert you see in movies with the dust balls rolling around, except everything was tinged red.

Annabeth could tell they were getting near the Doors. She felt an evil power slightly to her left. Percy seemed to feel it too. "There's our place. Let's go." And they left.

*linebreak like a boss*

It wasn't very long before another obstacle met them. Skip past another attempt from the spirit of the Abyss to try to drive them insane. The open desert stopped abruptly. Sheer cliffs rose up high, much too high to climb. The only way through them, it seemed, was through a rickety old wooden door that seemed about to collapse any second.

"So, I guess we go in there and get attacked by a monster?" Percy asked.

"Probably," answered Annabeth.

"OK then." They went in. Surprisingly, no monsters attacked them. Annabeth was in a barren room, about 20 feet squared with mud walls and absolutely nothing in it, except another door ahead. Cue awkward silence.

"Um, so I guess the monsters are in the next room?"

There was nothing in the next room either. But there was something of interest. At the other end, there was a more solid, newer looking wooden door. Next to it, hanging on the wall, was a sign that said, "_Welcome to the portal to the next level of Tartarus! There, you can find the place where monsters reform and the dwelling of Tantalus! Please be careful, mortals and monsters. Tartarus does not claim responsibility for lost items including Ipods, Phones, cars, pizza, and souls. Thank you, and have a nice life as you wait for your turn to regenerate."_

"Weird," Annabeth muttered. They stepped through the door. Level 2 didn't look too different from level 1.

A monster attacked them every once in a while, but they were alone and didn't put up much of a fight. Believe it or not, Annabeth was actually starting to get BORED of Tartarus. "Can't they throw something more at us?" She asked. Unfortunately, Annabeth spoke too soon.

She sensed something behind her and instinctively ducked. Milliseconds later, an arrow whizzed over her head. Percy took out Riptide and they both grabbed a shield from the weapon supply. "Stay together," Percy muttered.

That didn't really matter. At least 2 dozen dracaena archers were surrounding them, all of them with arrows nocked on their crossbows and hissing. A figure stepped out from between 2 of them. "Now, if you know what's good for you, drop your weapons." The voice was deep and heavy.

"Who are you?" Percy asked, his shield still up.

The figure took off his hood that had been covering his face.

"Why, it's me of course! Everyone knows me!"

"Uh, not getting any names." Percy frowned at the figure.

"Oh, come on! I'm the shizzle fahizzle! The awesome of awesome! I am….. Erebus!"

"Who's that?" Percy blurted before Annabeth could smash her shield against his thick head.

Fortunately, Erebus didn't seem offended. "You must be joking. I am the god of shadows and darkness! And now I am going to make you very comfortable before you die!" He flashed a smile, and the archers released their arrows.

**No comment. Next chapter is Jason.**

**Music of the chapter- Some Nights by Fun ( I think)**

**Quote of the chapter- War does not determine who is right. Only who is left.**

**That is one of my favorite quotes ever :D.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- FarCry 2.**


	16. Jason XVI

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque and James Bond (not really).**

**Beginning is slow, a little bit action later on. I don't want to bore you to death though, so I'll skip most of the meeting.**

**REMEMBER, MORE REVIEWS = MOAR UPDATES!**

*IMPORTANT* I put up a new story, one I wanted since none of you voted on my account. Go check it out and review if you want to continue or want me to give you a 2nd chance at voting!

**XVI**

**Jason**

Jason woke up to Leo shouting at his face, "Come on! We're close to Troy! Get your butt upstairs before I throw you up there Leo World Style!"

"Uh, just give me a few minutes." Jason groaned and shooed Leo out. He instantly passed out again.

The next time, he woke up to a bucket of freezing water. Jason gasped instantly shot his hand out, closing around a neck. His vision cleared. "Leo, what the hell?!"

He didn't reply. Kind of hard to do when there's a battle hardened fist closing around your airway.

He choked something that sounded like, "trugidnsie."

Jason let go and instantly Leo fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Couldn't…. wake… you….up…. only way," he gasped. He stumbled out before Jason went ballistic again.

Knowing there was no way he could to back to sleep anymore, Jason changed and did his morning routine- shower, brushing teeth and such.

Then he went down to the mess hall for the meeting. Everybody gathered around the table, eating foods from bacon and eggs to guacamole salsa pizza topped with snails (that was Leo, he really had a weird appetite sometimes). Nico was snoring loudly, while Leo tried to stuff some of his pizza up his nose.

Jason cleared his throat. Everyone sat down. Nico woke up, and gagged at the pizza up his nose.

"What's in my nose?" he coughed.

"Pizza," Leo answered, with a smirk on his face. Nico glared at him. "You're crazy."

"You say that as if it's a bad thing."

"As if it's not…" Nico muttered, but didn't argue.

"All right cupcakes! Tell me what to kill and let's do this!" Coach Hedge shouted and banged his baseball bat on the table. He seemed especially hyper.

Leo said, "um Ok, so we're about 2 hours out. A couple cabins from Camp Half Blood and the first cohort are going to support the push. Everyone else will stay offshore and land if the extra support is needed."

"Any ideas where the piece might be?" Hazel asked. She looked pretty happy right now.

"Well, the note said where the hero died. That's Achilles, so it must be somewhere around where Paris shot him in the ankle."

For the next half hour, Jason and the others talked about plans of attack, debating back and forth, and by the time it was over, Jason was about to die from boredom.

When it was finally over, it was all he could to not to let out a huge sigh of relief.

Every scattered, finding something to kill an hour and a half before the ruins of the city came into view. Jason was leaning on the rail, letting his mind wander, when Piper walked up next to him.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi." Jason mentally face palmed himself. _Really, Jason? _He scolded himself. _That's what you say to your girlfriend- HI?_

Fortunately, Piper didn't seem to take too much notice. She stared off into the distance, and Jason felt himself getting lost in her wonderful kaleidoscope eyes again.

"What are you looking at?" She asked.

"Nothing… just… you know, you're beautiful," he stuttered.

Piper responded by kissing him full. He felt a spark travel through his body that he got whenever she did that. When they separated half a minute later, Jason sat down, his back against the railing. Piper leaned against him and whispered, "In case you haven't noticed, Leo's been filming us up at the helm. Remember to pulverize him later."

"Will do," Jason whispered back. He glanced towards the helm and sure enough, a figure was standing there, a video camera in his hand. Jason resisted the urge to electrocute Leo right then.

Instead, he took something out of his pocket. Gulping in anxiety, he said to her, "I love you. I always will." And slipped the promise ring he'd been keeping on his finger. Piper looked at it.

The ring fit her finger just right, a silver ring dotted with tiny diamonds all around it. A large one surrounded by gold and ruby circles stood prominently at the base.

"My gods, Sparky… This is so beautiful."

"Only the best for you, Beauty Queen." He smiled at her and kissed Piper again. Piper smacked him on the head and they pulled apart.

"What was that for?" Jason whinnied.

"THAT was for calling me Beauty Queen."

"Oh, come on!"

"Well, anyways, does the ring have any magic powers?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"The big diamond at the middle opens up to a small, razor sharp blade. In case you ever need to stab anyone without noticing. It's dangerous," he warned.

"I'm a dangerous girl," Piper smiled, and Jason remembered that she had said those exact same words 8 months ago, when they first arrived at Camp Half Blood.

"I know you are. That's why you're so great, Beauty Queen."

"Call me that one more time and I'll stab you with your own promise ring."

He would've kissed her again, but suddenly, the sky darkened and storm clouds appeared out of nowhere.

Piper stood up and helped Jason. "What's happening?"

Jason concentrated on trying to disperse them. He swore when it didn't work. "A god's messing with us again."

Without warning, snow started blowing with category 5 hurricane winds, and Jason almost got thrown overboard with Piper. He managed to grab a shield at the last second. The wolf howled loudly and the ship tipped a little to port.

Leo's voice cracked over the intercom. "Jason! Get your butt downstairs! Khione's messing with us again!

Jason grabbed onto Piper, called for a wind burst, and they shot down, tumbling down the stairs as they watched the unexpected snowstorm batter the Argo II. "And stay down!" Leo's voice said.

"Come on, there's nothing we can do," Piper said and tugged his arm.

Listening to her charmspeak, they went down the mess hall and watched a romantic drama Piper really liked, called _The Fountain _and listened to Coach Hedge shouting "DIE!" as he attacked the snowflakes.

*Chapter's not over, don't worry! I promise to make this (sort of) long to make up a little for all the short ones recently. Linebreak!*

They weren't 20 minutes into the movie and Jason hadn't even understood the plot yet when the Argo II suddenly tipped to the left. Piper yelped and grabbed Jason as they tumbled off the couch and into the wall. "Ow," Jason murmured as the ship righted itself and he fell AGAIN- this time onto the floor.

"Sorry," Piper muttered as he got off him and withdrew her elbow from his mouth. Jason had even wanted to taste Piper's arm, and it wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat again.

"S'all right." He limped over to the intercom and pinged the helm. "Leo! What the hell just happened?"

No response. "LEO!" Jason said again.

Still nothing.

"Something's wrong. Let me go up and check."

Piper hesitated for a moment then nodded. Jason struggled to get to the helm, as the winds were still strong and the snow still poured down. He couldn't see 10 feet in front of himself.

Jason found Leo still at the helm, some sort of glass wall surrounding him and sealing the helm off in a little glass structure. He opened the door and closed it behind him before Jason could get pushed off the boat by a wind.

"Um, can I ask, why the windows?"

Leo violently shook his left Wii remote and as another wind pushed the boat and tilted it left. "Oh, it's something I designed in case this ever happened so I could stay up here. Don't worry, it won't break. You'd have to drive a truck into the glass to even dent it."

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but something caught his eye. To the left of the ship, a large thing of green was rapidly approaching the ship.

The ship was still at a 45 degree angle as it lost altitude and dropped toward it.

Jason's eyes widened in realization. "RIGHT THE SHIP!" He shouted just as another gust of wind smashed the Argo II and tipped it completely sideways and it smashed into the ground below and exploded.

**Cliffhanger BWAHAHAHAHA! I hope this was long enough for you, the next couple will be about 1.5k words (I will try). Hope you enjoyed! **

**Quote of the chapter- Life is like a circle. NO wonder I'm so dizzy.**

**Song of the chapter- El Dorado by Two Steps from hell.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Just started Mortal Instruments and really liking it. I wanted Clary/Jace, but I guess a brother and sister dating is just plain WEIRD. I don't like Simon D:.**

**Peace out and see you in the next chapter… I hope. Maybe I'll abandon this story… MWAHAHAHAH! Jk I wouldn't do that to you wonderful people. Review to ensure I see this through to the end! NOW GO MY YOUNG PADAWANS! GOO AND EAT DONUTS! *DUN DUN DUUUUUN***

Chapter 17= Friday


	17. Hazel XVII

**Review please, it makes my day! **I know I said this chapter would be long, but it won't. I'm sorry, got HW to finish and a test to pretend to study for! (My parents make me study, so I lock myself in my room (with no computer) and just read the PJO books. I've never needed to study in my whole life so far.)

**Disclaimer- Hazel- WASSAAP**

**Me: Hi, you know Rick owns you.**

**Hazel- NOOOOOOO! I hate him! He makes so many cliffhangers and throws Percy and Annabeth into Tartarus!**

**Me: IKR!**

*SUPER IMPORTANT MUST READ* There's a poll on my channel that you HAVE TO VOTE ON. I'm dead serious, it will affect the outcome of the future of the story BIG. The question is, "Do you want drama with Percy/Annabeth?"

I KNOW it sounds cheesy, but I'm telling you, it'll determine who lives and who dies in the end. So vote now. At least 25 votes please. And I won't claim responsibility when you don't vote and I do the side you don't want and you all shout "WHY!?"

So go now, before you even read this chapter.

**XVII**

**Hazel**

Hazel woke up buried under something hard. It felt like wood. She groaned, and shoved it off of herself, and covered her eyes as the daylight blinded her.

The snow had stopped, replaced with a warm, July sun. Hazel stood up and tried to get her bearings. She was in a relivately desert-like area, with the sea to her left and a large cliff to her right, so that she couldn't see anything except the small beach that the Argo had crashed onto.

The Argo II's left side was shredded, and supplies were strewn everywhere. It was right side up, and looked like one of those ships run aground that you see in the movies.

The mast had snapped. "Guys?" She called out.

A muffled voice yelled, "Over here, help! The mast is trying to suffocate me!"

Hazel stumbled over to the voice and found Leo trapped under a sail. "Yo, Hazel! Help me, will you?"

She helped lift the mast just a bit for Leo to crawl out. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Um, what happened?"

"Ah, snowstorm, wind, couldn't see, smashed into the ground, ship…" Leo looked at the mauled Argo II. "MY ship!" he cried and ran over.

Letting Leo do his own thing, Hazel walked around the debris, helping the others get out. In a while, everyone was gathered, with only minor injuries.

Piper said, "so, um, what now?"

"We have to try and hook up with the rest of Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter, assuming they didn't drown from the storm." Jason looked over at the cliff. "I'll fly around, see what I can find. Piper and Nico, you can help Leo do some emergency repairs."

For once, the son of Jupiter, a natural leader, didn't look very keen to take control. Usually Percy would think up stupid ideas, and Annabeth would scold him and come up with a brilliant plan. Hazel felt another pang of guilt as she thought of them.

_Don't mourn over the past,_ she told herself. _Think about the future and saving them__。_

"Um, Frank, if you could help me-" Jason started, but Hazel cut him off.

"No, I want to talk to him for a second," she looked him in the eye, and Frank averted his gaze.

"All right then, everyone. Get started." Jason shot up and Piper helped a still weak, but healing Nico over to the Argo II, where Leo was madly patching up the ripped apart hull.

"Frank…" Hazel started.

"If you're here to say you're sorry, don't. I respect you decision, Hazel and won't hate on it."

"It's not that. You're firewood… if you'd like it back…" Hazel took out the stub and held it out.

"No, I still trust you with my life, even if you turned me down. Can you keep it, please?"

Hazel gulped. "Ok, then."

(A/N Frank is still cool, I just ship Lezal.) *insert linebreak*

Later, Jason flew back with some good news. "The support is docked only about 40 miles from here, and teams have found ruins of Troy already," he said.

"Great. I'll get Leo to hurry," she replied and walked over to the wreck.

"Leo!" Hazel said. He didn't respond, even though he was 5 feet away.

"Earth to Leo!?"

"LEO!" she shouted. Still nothing. Sighing, Hazel walked up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Instantly, he straightened up and looked around confused. "What, wait what? What monsters? Where am I?" Then he saw Hazel. He turned red at the sight of an unhappy Hazel with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, um, yes?" he asked sheepishly.

"Finish up the emergency repairs. Everyone else is very close and they'll help patch the Argo II up."

"OH, that's good," he said simply and went back to his Leo World.

The rest of the day shot by as Hazel tried to understand what hydraulic pressurizes and truss beams were as she helped Leo make fine adjustments with her generally small hands.

At around 7, Leo made an announcement on the loudspeaker. "This is your awesome, epic, cute, hot, cool, scrawny **(Team Leo!),** and wonderful supreme captain general centurion commander of the awesome Argo II made by myself, Leo Valdez speaking!" Fireworks shot into the sky.

"We are ready for liftoff. Please stay seated. Camp Half Blood will not accept the responsibility of any injury or death. Oh, and try to keep any monsters from attacking the ship. Peace out

As Leo piloted the ship to the rest of CHB and CJ, everyone ate dinner and chatted about stuff. Normal, teenager stuff. For once, even if for a short time, Hazel felt as if she was normal and could take a break from saving the world.

If this made her tired, she wondered what Percy and Annabeth had gone through. If it was one they deserved, it was retirement from being the gods' pawns.

Later, when they landed, Conner and Travis took Hazel and the others to what used to be the gate of Troy. Even after 2000 years of erosion, Hazel's breath was taken away from the sight. Many of the structures were still quite intact. The cobbled streets were still clear. Descendents of the plants that were once the gardens of the city still grew in remarkable cohesion.

"Wow," she said. Nico nodded. "Wow," he agreed.

They were here. The first step into saving them. The first step into defeating Gaea.

**Liked it, hated it? Review!**

**Quote of the chapter- Just say No to drugs. Because if they're talking to you, you've probably had too many.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Mass Effect 3: Omega. WAS AWESOME, though I feel it focused too much on the game play and not enough on the story and characters.**

**Song of the chapter- Tristan by Two Steps From Hell (2SFH all day!)**

In terms of updating, since this is a day early, the next chappie will be sometime next weekend. LET'S HIT 300!


	18. Leo XVIII

**Disclaimer- *looks into mirror* Nope, still not Rick.**

**Rick's voice- I OWN PERCY JACKSON NOW DIE!**

***house explodes***

**Forgive me if I get any facts about Ancient Greek mythology wrong, but you know, books these days about mythology are VERY basic and the internet isn't all to helpful.**

**Note that Malcolm won't become a main character, but he's replacing for Annabeth so he'll show up when making battle plans and such.**

**I'm working on a short Hunger Games/PJO crossover, which I won't post until I finish all 10 of its chapters, so it won't interrupt this book.**

**Also working on a Fanfiction about the Greek/Roman American Civil War, as well as some oneshots, PLUS its almost vacation and all my teachers are squeezing in one more quiz or test before the break, so I'm pretty stressed, as you can see.**

**XVIII**

**Leo**

Leo REALLY hated it when someone messed with his creations. First Khione had destroyed Festus, now she wrecked the Argo II? Man, next time he met her, Leo was going to give the snow goddess a butt kicking.

As he tried to land the ruined ship onto a landing zone some campers had set up, night started to fall, and the beach landing lit up lanterns that shone brightly.

The ship landed without (too much) damage, and Athena and Hephaestus began patching up the ship. The Roman engineers tried to help a little, but as Leo had discovered in the Archimedes room, they weren't very good at "complicated" things like a big mother warship armed to the teeth and beyond.

As Conner and Travis led (and pick pocketed) them through the ruins, Leo felt an all-too familiar cold chill down his spine, the same kind right before the eidolon made him blow up parts of New Rome.

Something was wrong here. Very wrong.

After about a half hour of checking out what was left of this city, they turned a corner- and almost got busted.

Leo turned one leg, hissed and then shoved everyone back into the alley where they came from.

"Ow! What was-" Piper started but Leo put a hand to her mouth and made the quiet signal, holding a finger to his lips.

He peeked around again and confirmed what he saw.

An bonfire was lit and several hundred monsters were eating around it. They were still in battle gear, and the assortment of them were very well armed, Leo had to admit.

Every monster Leo could see had a complete set of Macedonian phalangite armor, including massive 21 foot long spears and a shield 2 feet in diameter. They could prove a problem. The Greek hoplite spears were only about 9 feet long, and the Romans had no way of penetrating a phalanx. Those shields could block a good amount of the pila.

He also caught sight of a few monsters armed like Hypaspists/hoplites with a shorter spear.

In the mix of it all was a giant. He wore classical Greek armor and carried a spear as tall as him- maybe 20 feet or so? His shield was as big as Leo, and his helmet covered most of his face. He himself was eating a cow carcass whole- bones and all.

"Who is that?" Jason asked. He was looking too.

"I don't know…. But he could prove a problem." Leo looked at him carefully.

"What is it? What's up?" Nico asked in an excited tone, like a kid at a mall wanting to know what all the commotion is about.

"They're right around the corner," Leo whispered back.

After a couple of minutes, Jason spoke up, "We have to get word back to the encampment. Come on."

*Linebreak like a boss*

"Mhmm," Malcolm muttered as he moved pieces across his strategy board. All the leaders were huddled in command tent, watching as he tried to formulate a plan.

"This isn't going to work," he hissed and swept the pieces of the board in frustration with a sigh. Leo figured that the situation must be pretty serious if a child of Athena couldn't come up with something.

"Remind me what assets we have," Malcolm said.

Jason counted off. "Uh, 1st cohort, 2nd cohort, Ares, Athena and Apollo."

Malcolm put his hand to his head. "We're not equipped to fight a Macedonian phalanx, and I doubt we'll have time to call supplies from Camp. Based on the map you gave me, there's way to few entrances to attempt a flanking attack. Also you claimed that the ruins were too messy to traverse, right?"

"Um, yeah," Conner said, wincing.

"Then there's no way unless we lure them out. And that could take weeks."

Jason piped up, "Couldn't you fly some guys over?"

Malcolm glared at him. "You really think I didn't consider that idea? We have a lot of pegasus, but according to your figures Leo, there's enough that as soon as they hit the ground, they'll get surrounded and killed."

The son of Jupiter frowned. "I didn't say they had to drop. They could fly around and shoot the monsters from behind, couldn't they?"

"Forget about the archers?"

Leo shuffled. He knew Malcolm would explode for what he would say. "Um, they have no archers. Its only pike men and swordsmen."

Malcolm didn't move for a second. Then, sure enough, he blew. "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?!" He shouted.

Everyone winced at the sound.

"Dude, sorry. Just try to think something up, k?" Leo tried to calm him down.

Fortunately, all Malcolm did was sigh and picking up the battle pieces to make something work. After a couple of tense minutes, he finally said, "Ok, I've got something. I want both the cohorts and the Ares cabin to attack from the 3 entrances to the square where Achilles died."

"Why are you using US as cannon fodder?" Octavian growled. "Why not you lowly Graceus?"

Leo could feel Malcolm resisting the urge to punch Octavian in the face. "Because, idiot, there's 90 of you alone and less than 50 of us. Use your head."

Connor muttered, "I'm not sure he has one," and everyone cracked up while Octavian did his best not to look embarrassed. He humphed and blended back into the small crowd.

"Meanwhile," Malcolm continued," Apollo will mount pegasus and shoot the phalanx from behind."

"And what are you going to do?" Octavian snarled. This time, Leo had to resist an urge to gut him right then and there. "Sit back and watch them slaughter us?"

"Unfortunately for you, no. My cabin will go blast through a weak point in the ruins and outflank the side that Ares is holding up."

"I thought you said they were impassable," Octavian glared at Malcolm.

"Nothing is impassible, augur. You just have to have the right tools. While we do that, Hephaestus will finish up repairs to the Argo II. Dismissed." And the meeting adjourned.

*linebreak*

The next morning, everyone suited up. Only one fight broke out between Greeks and Romans, which was good, considering the air of hostility between them. Jason, Frank, Reyna (she had come, assigning Dakota and an injured centurion from the 1st to take temporary control. Leo had a sneaking suspicion that she had come to try and win back Jason) and Hazel started shouting at the Romans to pick up the pace. Hazel was supossed to be only a regular legionary, but Leo guessed that being a member of the prophecy had its benefits.

The Greeks organized themselves into phalanx lines without (too much) frolicking around. Leo could feel some jealous glares from the Roman side as they watched their Greek counterparts play around as they geared up, while the Romans themselves were under strict orders.

The element of surprise was on their side as they (semi) orderly marched through the ruins, the Apollo campers above expertly taking out guards that the giant had stationed.

Everyone quietly shuffled into position. The idea was to gain as much ground as possible before the monsters organized themselves, making their formation more compact and giving the Apollo archers easier pickings.

Leo was put with Athena. Being a son of Hephaestus, he knew how to work explosives.

Leo's mind drifted and he didn't notice that the horn had sounded until the demigods let up a cry and charged.

He focused on priming a little toy he had made- C4 explosive mixed in with some Greek fire, specially made to punch through the thickest walls.

"Let's bogey," he said and set the explosive.

THANK YOU ALL FOR 300 REVIEWS! I don't have the time to write extra chapters for a super-massive update or something, so here's what you can do.

1) Ask me questions to answer in the next chapter

2) Request a oneshot to be written (I have a couple full stories being drafted and edited)

3) Both 1 and 2

I forgot what I was going to write here - ):

Keep voting on the poll! (close after the next chapter)

I'll see you on after the world doesn't end :)

**Review and favorite, they make my day!**

**Quote of the chapter- If a synchronized swimmer drowns, do all the others have to die too?'**

**Song of the chapter- A Thousand Years by Christina Perri (PERCABETH SONG COMPLETELY!)**

**Entertainment of the chapter- The Sims 3. **


	19. Hazel XIX

**Disclaimer- Still not Rick, don't get your hopes up.**

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I was on vacation in Montreal and Quebec for 6 days (its cold there). It was fun though! I got home at 1AM on the 26th (today) and stayed up until 3 writing this chapter for you all, so excuse typos, OOCness, and generally suckish writing because I was half asleep and didn't have time to edit it ):**

**Merry Late Christmas! I'm getting a Razer Tlamat 7.1 and a Razer Deathstalker Ultimate, plus a Deathadder 2013, and I'm waiting for my 2nd GTX680 to arrive so I can run SLI.**

**XIX**

**Hazel**

Things… well, they didn't go exactly as planned. But then again, when do things every?

Everything started out OK. Leo's charge blew and the Athena cabin entered it SWAT style, armed to the teeth. She could tell they were EXTREMELY well trained from the way they covered each others' blind spots and moved, and Hazel felt glad she wasn't the enemy.

Connor was right though. The ruins were a COMPLETE wreck. Everything was everywhere and uneven, but the children of Athena didn't seem to care, vaulting over blockages and leaving Hazel and the other demigods- Leo, Nico, Jason and Frank (Piper was leading Ares, how ironic) to stumble and trip their way through as best they could.

Progress was slow, and the demigods ahead often had to stop to help Hazel. She could tell they were pretty annoyed. "And Roman training was supposed to be good," one joked and the others laughed.

Hazel didn't feel offended, maybe because she was humiliating herself so much, it felt right to joke about her training.

"My god," Jason muttered after tripping. "These guys are SERIOUSLY elite. I bet they could take out the entire 1st on their own." And promptly continued to fall on his face. After what seemed like ages, they found the cabin against another wall, setting C4.

The sounds of battle outside was now subsiding to the monsters grunting as they pushed the Romans and Greeks back with their phalanx.

The wall blew just as Hazel pressed herself against the ruined wall, debris flying everywhere. Again, the cabin entered to breach-and-clear. Only difference was, this time there were a couple hundred monsters in front of them. Any normal demigod would have frozen in shock and killed.

But these 9 children of Athena (there were only 14 all together. 2 stayed at Camp, the other 3 were too new to be thrown into something this dangerous) were not a "normal" demigod, if demigods could be considered normal.

The 9 of them instantly responded, yelling insanely and charging at the monsters like it was perfectly natural. Which of course it was. At least, for them.

Jason charged them too, lighting up with electricity. Leo started hurling fireballs and Frank turned into an elephant. Somehow, his armor had molded into scaly, Eastern cataphracts style gear.

Elephants were pretty deadly in the ancient times, and that carried over to today. Frank bowled through dozens of monsters at a time, stomping more to dust and chucking other ones into the air with his tusks and nose. Hazel felt a rush of adrenaline herself and, without thinking drew her _spatha_ and charged.

The next few minutes blurred as her instincts and training took over. Block, jab, cut, block, parry, drop-kick. She wasn't aware of anything until the monsters started falling back, weirdly.

Things had worked out pretty well. The monsters keeping the 1st and 2nd cohorts at bay were driven back, and now they organized themselves and formed ranks where the 2 paths joined, just before they entered the garden itself. On the other side, the Ares cabin was hacking away.

Somehow, they had broken the phalanx formation of the monsters and were now at close quarters, where the 21 foot long spears didn't work very well.

Another line formed, and the 2 armies- Roman and monster regarded each other for a second, before Reyna yelled an order. _"Pila!_" she shouted. 90 Imperial Gold tipped javelins bristled. "Fire!" Reyna called and they launched into the air, cutting down dozens of the monsters, who were armed more like Romans, but carried a very small shield.

The surviving monsters' own spears showed as a telkhine barked. Fortunately, Roman shields were pretty massive, and no one was hit.

Jason raised his sword and electricity crackled. "CHARGE!" he roared and the 2 cohorts yelled, "For Rome!" before charging forward and hacking down the unprepared monsters.

Again, things blurred as Hazel joined the front line and hacked away.

But that was when things went wrong.

The monsters retreated again, deeper into the town square. The Romans pursued, the children of Athena hot on their heels. Too late, Hazel realized the monsters were drawing them and cutting them off.

A group of monsters ran around their back and cut off the exit.

Hazel swore. They were surrounded. Reyna seemed to realize it as well. She called an order and the 2 cohorts formed into a square, each side 2 ranks deep. The 9 Greeks in the mix stood in the center, ready to fill any gaps that appeared in the line.

Then a massive roar went up. Hazel looked behind her just in time to see the giant she had spotted earlier come barreling in.

In the split second, she sized him up. He was dressed like a Greek hoplite, but carried a small shield (only half as big as Hazel) and had a short, Roman stabbing sword.

The sheer momentum of the giant smashed through the lines and sent Romans flying. The giant swept his shield and Hazel blocked it with her own, but the force still sent her flying backwards. She yelled and hit her head on the ground, everything dizzy.

When everything refocused, the battlefield was absolute carnage. Some reinforcements from the base camp had arrived- a couple more cabins from Camp Half Blood. The Ares cabin had broken through and were cutting a deadly path with fresh soldiers, but the Romans were in complete disarray.

The formation had completely disintegrated into small pockets of 2 or 3 legionaries fighting for their lives. The giant was busy dealing with the 9 children of Athena, who were darting around him and stabbing quickly before moving again.

Leo and another legionary Hazel didn't recognize stood over her, repelling monsters from all sides.

As Leo saw her come to senses, he helped her up and quickly kissed Hazel's cheek before disappearing, his flaming figure now blocked by the carnage.

As she dodged a monster trying to stab her, Hazel shoved her way through the crowd. There was no way to win this fight conventionally. Only the power of a god could help them.

She ended up in the center of the garden, where a statue of Ares stood. At the base, both Latin and Greek letters were inscribed. She read the Latin one- "Here lies Achilles, the greatest hero of them all."

Hazel suddenly knew what to do. "Frank!" she shouted. He heard her and started making his way to Hazel, cutting down monsters in his path.

"What?" He shouted. Even though they were almost right next to each other, the sounds of battle were so loud he had to shout.

"We need the help of a god! Pray to your dad!"

"That's crazy! They're in turmoil right now!" He looked at Hazel incredulously.

"No choice! Just try! I have a good feeling about this!" she yelled and stabbed at a dracaena.

"Cover me then!" Hazel protected Frank as he knelt at the base of the statue, hopefully praying to Ares.

After a couple minutes, nothing. "Any progress?" She called.

"Nothing! I've prayed, but-" Frank was cut off by an unnaturally loud thunder boom. Wait, thunder? It was broad daylight.

Before Hazel could process anything else, something from the sky flew down and landed 20 feet in front of Hazel like an artillery shell, flattening all the monsters within a 5 foot radius and causing both demigods and monsters to stare as the smoke cleared and a figure appeared.

Mars or maybe Ares smiled evilly. "Did some ask for some ownage?"

**Athena all the way! Though I might have exageratted them, huh?**

**Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are appreciated!**

**Quote of the chapter- ****"How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?"**

**Song of the chapter- Love the Way You Lie by Rihanna ft Eminem (or is it the other way around?) **

**Entertainment of the chapter- Medieval II: Total War.**


	20. Nico XX

**Chapter 20…. I never thought I'd get to type XX on my keyboard.. Review to make sure I continue this story!**

**Here's an AWESOME parody to the 12 Days of Christmas song made up by a writer on Wattpad- XxxJoJoLuvxxX. Here it is-**

ON the 12th day of Christmas, Rick Riordan gave to me..

12 gods on thrones,  
11 golden eagles,  
10 years of service,  
9 evil nymphs,  
8 high powered spuds,  
7 chosen heroes,  
6 arms on Earthborn,  
5 giants gone!  
4 days for Hera,  
3 Roman praetors,  
2 godly camps  
And a boat with a dragon's head!

**Here's my gift to you for 2012! A chapter and a cookie- (::)(::)(::)(::)**

**My New Year Resolution? 1)Try to write better and 2)Get past the fucking (excuse my language) annoying annual Seleucid phalanx pike spam armies and let me just conquer her last 5 frickin cities so I can kill Rome in my Sparta camgpain in Roma Surrectum II.**

**I'm telling you, Roma Surrectum II is THE BEST TOTAL WAR MOD ever created. Except maybe Darthmod Empire. Hard to say. They're both awesome as hell.**

**XX**

**Nico**

For once, Nico was glad to have the god of war on his side. He could only watch in awe as Mars/Ares tore through the enemy lines with ease.

Within seconds, the 2 camps had rallied and the garden was separated into 2- a monster phalanx and a Greek phalanx supported by legionnaires on the flanks. On the monster side, the god was still wrecking havoc. Only the demigod side, the Greeks and pegasus archers were still keeping the giant, Mimas at bay pretty well. The Romans were unloading _pila _into the weak spots of the armor.

Nico himself was darting around the giant's legs and stabbing his foot, his Stygian Iron sword hurting the giant quite a bit, though he knew they would need the help of Ares to kill this thing once and for a couple thousand years.

Reyna was shouting orders to focus fire on the monsters, keeping them down for Mars to kill the giant. They formed ranks and made an effective dam boxing in the phalanx.

"Dad!" Frank shouted and motioned to the giant.

Frank's father seemed to understand and jumped up over the ranks and landing on the demigod size, growing to full size. "We'll Mimas… we meet again," he bellowed.

Mimas snarled. "You will not kill me this time, god of war."

"We'll see about that." And then they charged each other, massive swords clanging against each other. Frank turned into an elephant complete with cataphracts armor and plowed into Mimas, sending the giant toppling like a LEGO skyscraper that had been knocked down.

The giant rolled and jabbed at Frank, his spear deflecting off his armor.

This kind of stuff continued for a little while. Nico circled the fighters, trying to get a weak spot to hit.

No opportunity came up.

Frank was calling for help, but Octavian was calling orders to form testudo, and the Romans slowly separated from the Greeks, in their own formation. With nothing to support them, Camp Half Blood had no choice but to form their own spear square.

Then Frank decided to morph into an army of bees. He stung the giant all over and Ares delivered a crushing blow to the giant's forehead with his battle hammer. Stunned and confused, Nico took the change and rushed in, stabbing the giant in the foot.

Something weird happened after that.

Nico's sword sunk hilt deep into the foot, touching the ground. As soon as it hit dirt, something under the ground went _BOOM_ and Nico was thrown off his feet.

When everything cleared, his Stygian Iron sword lay 10 feet in front of him, smoking and twisted out of shape. The sounds of fighting were still in the background, but it was like Nico was underwater.

There was no giant. The war god Ares and Frank were looking around in confusion. Frank came over and helped Nico the feet just as the sounds of battle came back into focus. "What happened?" he asked. "One minute the giant was there, the next there was an explosion and he disintegrated."

"I don't…. I don't know," Nico muttered through a killing headache.

Frank set him against the statue of Mars, then rushed back to the front, where all the formations were dissolved into 1 on 1 combat.

But the scary thing was, there were no monsters. It was Greek vs Roman. The Greeks had an obvious advantage, being much better trained in single combat. Romans were in small groups of 2 or 3, hacking away at everything bronze they could see.

Jason, Frank, Reyna, Piper and some others were trying to calm down the fight, with not much success.

"Calm down!" Jason shouted.

"Dieeee!" Coach Hedge yelled and charged Jason. They went rolling into an alleyway.

But right now there was something more important- the fact that Mimas had seemingly disintegrated.

"Son of Hades! What have you done to the giant! I wanted to kill him!" Mars rounded on Nico and glared at him and Nico averted his gaze.

"Um, I stabbed him in the foot and he died, Lord Mars," Nico replied, trying to keep his cool. "Or at least, he appeared to."

"Well, Frank was supposed to kill the giant with me, not you!" Mars scoffed and shook his head. Fortunately, he didn't blast Nico to dust. A minor detail.

"Lord, I don't think it was me. When I stabbed him, it touched the ground and seemed to send some sort of energy through the blade."

"Well, that's the power of the Heracles Bow for you," he said absent-mindedly. He was looking at the Greeks and Romans fight.

"Romans need to be in formation…" Mars shook his head.

The power of the Heracles Bow. "Lord Ares, you mean… a part of the bow is buried here?" Nico didn't like calling gods "lord," but Romans gods were even more annoying then Greek ones, and it was smart to call them it.

"Well of course! Didn't the note Apollo say so? Oh, he and his clever riddles. I must be going now. Lord Jupizeus has demanded I stay no longer than necessary." And with that, he erupted into a flash of golden light as Nico covered his eyes and left.

Nico stared for a moment, then beckoned Hazel over. "Do you sense anything right under us?" He asked her.

Hazel frowned in concentration. "Some rubies, a diamond…. And a piece of bent Celestial Bronze. Noo… no just any. This piece practically radiates power."

"Can you lift it for me?"

"Sure. Gimmie a second."

As Hazel tried to raise the metal, the war finally started to calm down. Piper's charmspeak began working its magic finally, and the dead and wounded were being accounted for. No one looked to badly injured, though Nico caught sight of a few motionless bodies soaked in red, which made him look away sick.

"Got it," Hazel said.

Nico turned around and looked at the piece. Behold.. the all mighty, powerful, godly, piece of Heracles Bow- A dull, bent piece of metal.

He blinked. "That's it?"

"That's it," Hazel confirmed.

"I expected more," Nico muttered.

"Eh."

Nico grabbed the piece and examined it. Now that he was touching the metal, he could feel how powerful it was, massive amounts of energy waiting to be released.

It was about 1 foot long, slightly bent, like a miniature bow that was unstrung.

"Come on. Let's get this piece back to camp for examination," Nico said.

And he turned around just in time to see Octavian stab him in the chest.

Wow, I realized I had completely already screwed up the order of chapters. I did 2 Hazel chapters lol. I promise it'll be correct for the next batch- Percy/Annabeth, Percy/Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Leo, Nico and Frank.

**Mwahahaha I'm evil! Reviews are loved.**

**Quote of the chapter- 9 out of 10 doctors agree than 1 out of 10 doctors in an idiot.**

**Song of the chapter- Paradise by Coldplay (Did I do that one already?)**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty**


	21. Frank XXI

Guess what people? I got 16 reviews for the last chapter, which is the 2nd most I've ever gotten from the release of one chapter (#1 being when I first posted chapter 1). So apparently you guys all love-urm, I mean hate cliffhangers. So more cliffhangers! Unless you keep up the awesome reviews :D.

**I realized that as I was finishing ch 30, I forgot to put in a Frank chapter after Nico, so I had to go back and edit every single one :P**

**XXI**

**Frank**

Frank tackled Octavian just as his blade touched Nico's chest and they both went sprawling. When he felt a body on top of him, he blindly punched at it and was rewarded with a solid _crack!_ as a jaw dislocated.

Someone screamed with a very high-pitch. Groaning, Frank shoved the body off of him and stood up.

Octavian was on the ground, with a bloody nose and groaning. Frank looked at him in disgust. Nico came up behind him and muttered, "Thanks" before kicking the dislocated jaw again. Quite painful.

As the demigods mopped up and reorganized, Reyna and a couple centurions came over. "What happened?" She asked harshly.

Nico replied in a monotone, "He tried to stab me, Frank tackled him and dislocated his jaw."

Jason frowned. "Octavian ATTACKED you?"

"Yeah, I saw him go for Nico with a dagger," Frank confirmed.

"This is treachery," Reyna muttered, scratching her chin like the 500 year old monks you see in movies. "I will find a suitable punishment."

Later, after everyone returned to camp, Nico finally brought out the little bronze piece that was supposedly a part of the bow. It radiated power, even if it didn't look like much. Attached to it was another rolled up slip of parchment that somehow survived several thousand years of earth.

Nico read it to himself and frowned. "What's up?" Frank asked, peeking curiously.

The words were written in poetic Ancient Greek, but he managed to read,He read the parchment,

_Congratulations! You've somehow managed to fall upon the first piece of the archer, whether 40 years from now or 2000. I have the slightest clue what you have this for, writing this as the gods mop up the Giants. But Lord Zeus has ordered me to hide the 4 pieces, so only worthy heroes can find them when Olympusus needed help again. I could tell you where it is, but unfortunately, the Fates told me it can't be TWO easy. So I'll have to again riddle you. Sorry peoples!_

_The 2__nd__ piece lies at the site of the first run,  
where the Persian invasion first begun.  
Where the Athenian army held against all odds,  
where they saved Greece and the home of the Gods  
Where King Darius was defeated and brought to shame,  
While the phalanx of Athens gained glory and fame_

_I think that was to dramatic. I'll make sure if you never find the 2__nd__ piece, I'll give you something different. Peace in!_

_The Awesome Apollo _

_P.S. If you ever find this, Insta-ris Message me. I need to know._

_(A/N _**This is not me screwing up grammar horribly, its Frank not being able to read Greek very well)**

"Weird," Frank agreed. "He sounds so... 's like he wrote this a day ago."

Nico shrugged. "With gods, you can never know. They had Cashmere clothes when mankind was learning how to use the fire Prometheus gave them."

Frank snorted. A couple people had gathered around Nico, curious as to what the yellow old paper read. Nico read the clue aloud to everyone, and people started muttering amongst themselves as to what it is.

The next few hours blurred as more and more people heard it. Fortunately, it wasn't too twisted by the time it reached the ends of the gossip line, only to the point where it sounded something like this:

_I derped on the field all day,  
Persians came and tried to stab me.  
Athenians saved me with all odds,  
(almost) saved Greece and the toilet of the Gods.  
King Darius was owned big time and brought to shame,  
the kitchen maids of Athens gained derp and fame._

OK, maybe it was a little weird.

Apollo's riddle was read aloud to everyone at dinner though, so confusion cleared up.

The next morning, Frank woke up to a very loud noise. He did his morning routine, then half-sleep walked to the deck of the Argo II to see what was going on.

When he saw, all his tiredness instantly disappeared.

Several dozen meters from the Argo II, a group of Romans were storming through the Greek side of the encampment, burning ships and tents, hacking down a few who ran into them.

Jason was at his side instantly, swearing like a sailor. He grabbed a ballista and loaded a bolt. Frank ran to the helm and sounded the alarm bell.

Within a minute, everyone was up. Jason fired the first bolt, a tear gas arrow. It exploded in the middle of the Roman mob and the angry crowd was reduced to coughing and gagging, if only temporarily. "Do something, Leo!" Jason shouted as he picked up a 2nd giant arrow, this time armor piercing.

Leo ran up to Frank and pushed him away from the helm, cursing wildly and ripping open drawers as Piper attempted to charmspeak the crowd a little. Hazel was whistling for Arion.

After hesitating for a moment, Frank concentrated for a moment. He felt himself grow heavier and larger, and before he knew it, he was a full size Chinese dragon.

Frank soared upwards, making low passes and sending Romans scattering while the Greeks gathered into a fighting formation.

Roman arrows and pila bounced harmlessly off his skin like NERF darts against a brick wall. After a couple passes, he cleared back to the ship as the Greeks charged forward, smashing into the confused Romans.

He turned back to human and Leo exclaimed behind him. "Yes!" he shouted and pulled out the metal sphere like the one Frank had seen in Archimedes' lab.

"What are you planning to do with that?" Frank shouted, temporarily forgetting he was supposed to hate Leo. He replied, "Just watch" and grinned wickedly.

Frank watched as Leo punched a few numbers, then threw it into the massive blob of soldiers. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the air sparked blue around the sphere, which was hovering over the Romans.

A shock traveled through all the Romans' armor and weapons, as well as the Greeks' weapons, but none of them were wearing any armor.

Then the air exploded, and everything in a 30 foot radius outwards-tents, soldiers and seagulls- was pushed to the ground.

Everything went silent for a moment as people tried to comprehend what happened.

Before things could get out of hand again, Reyna marched in and shoved into the flattened angry Roman mob and dragged a blond haired augur who will not be named (*cough* Octavian *cough*) to his feet. The scrawny boy gulped and then received a punch in the face and a knee in the groin. A few people winced silently.

"Octavian?" Reyna demanded coldly. "What is this?"

"Praetor… the Greeks… they tried to kill me!" he stuttered. A couple of the Greeks snorted and snickered.

"Oh yes, of course!" Reyna said in a voice dripping with sarcasm and threw Octavian to the floor.

"As Praetor of Camp Jupiter and the 12th legion, I sentence you and your first cohort of traitors to _decimatio _to the 3rd degree!" She shouted.

All the Romans gasped audibly (including Jason, Frank and Hazel), while the Greeks looked confused.

_Decimatio_ was a cruel punishment for cohorts who had betrayed or defied direct orders. The cohort of 50 was divided into groups of 10, and each one threw in a name in their own hat. One name was then drawn out, and the person who had been selected was to be beat by the other 9, to a certain degree depending on which one the sentence commanded.

In this case, 3rd degree, the lightest, was simply a harsh beating.

The punishment hadn't been used since the 1st Legion rebelled against Rome towards the end of Civil War when they realized they were losing, resulting in Rome's defeat and move westward into California.

Some Romans explained it to the Greeks, whose jaws dropped to China. Frank remembered that from what Percy had said once, at Camp Half Blood, the cruelest punishment you could get was Kitchen Duty, Stable Cleaning and no s'mores, unless it was something serious, like murder, in which case you were either isolated for in VERY extreme cases, banished.

The Greeks never issued death penalties, them being as small as they were already, every man counted.

"Praetor, please! You cannot sentence us to something like this!" Octavian pleaded on his hands and knees. For the first time, he looked genuinely scared.

Reyna regarded him coldly. "You rebelled against Rome, Augur, and that is not lightly taken. You and the first cohort," she gestured to his accomplices, "are to return to Camp Half Blood and stay there as soon as the punishment is completed. I will have Greeks put devices on the ships to make sure you stay on course."

A.K.A C4 explosives wired to blow if the ships went off awry.

Frank locked himself in his cabin later as he blocked out the sounds of Romans screaming in pain. Even he had to admit that Reyna was a little TOO harsh, as bad as Octavian was.

Sometime in the evening, the Argo II's alarm sounded, signaling they were ready to leave. To continue the next leg of this quest.

**Guess! oO And for the record, Decimatio is a real punishment, although in reality, it was always killing, but I couldn't massacre 1/4 of the 1st cohort couldn't i? :/**

**Quote of the chapter- If rabbits' feet are lucky, then what happened to the rabbit?**

**Song of the chapter- Lucky by Jason Mraz. A fan suggested this song to me, relating it to Percabeth. The lyrics match them perfectly, though the song itself I'm not a big fan of.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- I am Number 4**


	22. Annabeth XXII

**Ok, POV order update- Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Hazel, Leo, Nico and Frank. Exceptions will be made, of course.**

**Disclaimer- Rick Riordan is the king of the Percy Jackson characters ):**

Got a hate review by a guest named "bored." He said, "2 things 1 gross 2 this sucks" Well, I have 2 things also. 1)Use fucking grammar and 2)I'd like to see you write something and get more than 1 view for it. Should that happen, I give you all the rights in the world to say my writing is terrible. Good day, bitch.

**XXII**

**Annabeth**

The first thing Annabeth registered was a jarring pain up her arm as most of the arrows deflected off the shield. The 2nd sent a chill down her spine- a cry of pain.

"Percy!" she shrieked and spun around, ignoring the arrows whizzing overhead.

He was on the ground with an arrow through his stomach, groaning and losing blood, though the arrow shaft stopped most of it from leaking.

Before she could process anything else something hard hit her head and she collapsed onto the ground. Annabeth thought she saw something change in the scenery and felt momentary dizziness, but she shook it off as her face landed on the dry dirt.

Annabeth pushed herself up a little with her arms and knees, and looked around in confusion. Where were all the archers? Where was that dude, Erebus?

But the weirdest thing of all was that Percy was on his knees to- without any injury except the fact that he probably had a bad headache, from the way he clutched his head and groaned.

As soon as he saw her, Percy's eyes widened and at the same time, they both said, "Aren't you supposed to be shot by an arrow?"

Annabeth's face reddened slightly and Percy blushed. He tried again, "Um, I saw one of the archers shoot and hit you, so-"

"Well!" A voice said. They both turned around and saw Erebus leaning on a tall thing that looked like it used to be a cactus.

"Come with me, will you?" He flashed a smile that made Apollo's teeth look black and motioned for Percy and Annabeth to follow. "I'd hate to kill you painfully this early."

Annabeth looked at Percy for a moment. They silently agreed to play along for a while. "Sure!" Annabeth said in a forced cheerful voice, and they set off, maybe to their deaths.

*I'm depressed at how few words are on this chapter right now ): Linebreak*

The god of shadows and darkness walked with them, making corny jokes and sarcastic comments with his smile that would've made Leo jealous.

"If a synchronized swimmer drowns, do all the others have to die too?" He asked rhetorically and even Annabeth had to crack a small smile. There wasn't much in this gods forsaken pit of hell cheerful.

After roughly half an hour of walking, they came to a dark cave. Erebus stepped right in and Percy and Annabeth followed.

Percy shot Annabeth a look that said, _now?_

She shook her head. Erebus was the god of shadows, and they were in a pretty big shadow right now, which could prove to be a problem if they fought him. For now, they would just wait things out. Who knows, maybe the Furies will come again.

"We'll stay here for the night," The god said in a upbeat voice. "Don't try to escape, I can sense you moving in the shadows. I'd hate to kill you so painfully this early on."

Annabeth was getting tired, and her mind began to shut down. _Just a little rest, _it coaxed and Annabeth gave in.

"I'll… sleep a little," she muttered. Percy kissed her and said, "Love you."

"Love you to." And she passed out.

oOo

In her dream, Annabeth was standing in a white matrix. Everywhere, everything was white. It was like she was floating in a lightbulb.

There was a scene unfolding in front of her. The other demigods from the Argo II were playing Capture the Flag, when Rachel came out of the woods and did her green smoke thing, spewing a prophecy.

In the Iris-Message thing, all she could hear was the prophecy.

_Gold, bronze and earth at war,__  
__As the demigods seal Death's Doors.__  
__While the pieces of the bane are searched and found,__  
__Wisdom and water continue underground.__  
__Tartarus takes one down to death,__  
__Whilst an oath is kept with a final breath._

(**Yes, I changed the prophecy... again. I promise this is the last time... I hope)**

Then the image faded, and Annabeth found herself in the matrix again.

The only other thing was a man with sea-green eyes just like Percy and a fisherman's hat, a trident in one hand. "Lord Poseidon?" she asked cautiously.

There was a good chance that this was one of Gaea's tricks.

The man looked up and smiled weakly. He looked about 30 years old. "Annabeth Chase. It's been a while."

"Um, what are you doing?" Annabeth asked and mentally slapped herself for being so informal. Gods had a tendency to turn you into potted plants or blast you to ashes when you didn't act all lordly to them.

"Listen. I don't have my time. It takes quite a bit of power to exist in this hellhole."

He leaned forward, completely business. "Annabeth, you DO realize the severity of this situation?"

"Well, of course! We're in Ta-"

"Girl, this is much more then about you and I. You realize that without you two, the prophecy cannot be completed? If that happens, more than just Western Civilization will fall. Everything that we have ever known, everything humanity and the gods have achieved in the last tens of thousands of years will be destroyed."

"I've heard that a lot," Annabeth sighed. "Just cut to the chase."

"A couple months ago. You were still at Camp Half Blood. You were playing capture the flag. You were separated from the rest and attacked. Am I correct?'

Annabeth thought for a moment. "Yeah."

Poseidon swore. "Gaea has been more clever than we expected."

"Which isn't much," she reminded him.

"Annabeth… the prophecy. Aphrodite was wrong. They were all wrong. This isn't going to end happily ever after."

"What do you mean?" asked Annabeth. She was starting to panic a little.

"Sh-" His form started to flicker. "I'm using too much time. Gaea will sense me and cut me off from Olympus. Just listen! The Earth goddess is using you as a catalyst! She's goi-"

And then he disappeared completely, leaving Annabeth to ponder what he meant.

**A little cheesy, isn't it? Hope you enjoyed and didn't have a heart attack! That's bad because then you can't write a review yelling, "NOOO!" Wait, but you can! **

**Love you all for almost 400 reviews! **New poll on my account... go vote. Oh, and the answer to the other one... "No." You guys don't want a percabeth break up, I suposse

**Quote of the chapter- Life isn't passing me by. It's running me over.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- The Walking Dead (video game)**

**Song of the chapter- Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. MY NEW SONG OBSESSION! GO LISTEN!**


	23. Percy XXIII

**Ha! Bet you didn't except a Percy POV after the cliffy last chapter!**

**Disclaimer- Not doing any from now on. Why? Because there's no point if the companies sue me. I'm not making any money off this, so really, there's nothing so wrong about it.**

**Last one- Rick Riordan owns this story's characters!**

Wow guys. 35 reviews? I'm literally dying from joy right now. You guys just shot by the 400 mark! Next stop- half a thousand!

BTW another important poll is up on my account

**And you'll have to wait to find out what Poseidon meant by "catalyst..."**

**XXIII**

**Percy**

Percy went to sleep shortly after Annabeth. Thank the gods, he didn't get any dreams, except one where Santa was going, "HO HO HO! Candy if you can defeat Gaea!"

Yeah, that one was a bit awkward.

Annabeth woke up the next morning (or evening, or afternoon; it was hard to tell time in Tartarus) with a troubled expression on his face. "What's wrong?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," Annabeth muttered, her face showing the complete opposite.

Percy decided not to dwell on it too much. Doing so usually ended up with him on the business end of Annabeth's dagger.

Erebus was snoring in the corner, drooling. Percy considered for a moment trying to subdue him while he was still asleep.

"Do you want to try?" He asked.

Annabeth pondered it. "Why not?"

Percy nonchalantly (**Vocab word! + 1 for me!) **walked up to the snoring god of shadows, pretending to sit by the small campfire.

Halfway through the sit, Percy shot out his hand and tried to grab Erebus's throat.

Unfortunately, the god was in fact not asleep. His eyes shot open instantly and he leaned to the side easily.

Percy's hand missed and Erebus delivered a light whack to his arm. "You know, I thought I told you there's no way you can defeat me in a shadow. I know everything," the god said lazily.

"You might as well sit down or I'll have to kill you. I'm not sure that Gaea would be too pleased if I had to make your that much shorter."

Percy sat down carefully, his mind still trying to find a way out. Without looking, he knew Annabeth was trying to think up something too.

"Now, let's eat breakfast!" Erebus smiled, waving his hand and a giant breakfast buffet appeared along with a table and 3 kitchen chairs.

Even though he didn't get hungry in Tartarus, Percy's mouth watered and his stomach grumbled as he overlooked the giant selection of foods- bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, waffles and just about anything else you could want.

Half an hour and a very satisfying breakfast later, things went weird.

Everything flipped for a moment, and then straightened out. They were somewhere else, in a small cave that looked similar to the one before, but slightly different features. Erebus was gone. So was Annabeth.

"Annabeth?" Percy called, slightly panicked.

Then he heard it. As if it was right next to it. A blood curling scream of pain and terror.

Percy instantly went into red alert mode.

He shouted her name again. "Annabeth!" No response. Swearing, Percy uncapped Riptide and ran ahead. It wasn't long before the scream sounded again.

Percy tried not to have a mental breakdown from the anguish.

Instead, he focused. The cave led straight ahead. It wasn't long before his head began throbbing painfully, vile images flashing through his head.

_Don't collapse now,_ he yelled at himself. _Find her!_

The thought of Annabeth helped him focus, and he continued stumbling forward, trying to control the pain in his head. It didn't work.

His knees buckled and Percy collapsed onto the ground, breaths coming in short and rapid, sweat forming on his forehead.

_Don't go into shock! _His still functioning brain screamed.

But still, everything went black.

When he woke up again sometime later, Percy was still in the same spot. He wasn't sure how long he's been out, but nothing seemed to have changed. Everything was quiet, except for the _drip drip_ of water.

He pushed himself to a standing position relatively easily. The terrible headache he'd randomly gotten was gone, and Percy felt pretty fresh.

The door a couple feet ahead of him opened up to a…. stadium? Weird.

He took in his surroundings.

The stadium looked like a smaller, underground version of Yankee Stadium. It looked like it was carved from rock, and the roof had truss structures running the length. No one was here, as far as Percy could see.

There were 3 small doors- one he was coming from, and 2 more, all equal distance from each other ringing the arena.

Leading into one of them was a trail of red liquid- blood.

Percy thought for a moment, then, using the shadow of the stands, sneaked around to the door.

Nothing stopped him. He reached the door and put an ear to it. Still quiet.

Carefully, Percy slowly inched the door open and peeked in. The insides like the tunnel/cave identical to the one Percy had come through. There were a few more blood drops, like a bread crumb trail leading to the door on the other side.

Without thinking, he stepped right through.

Unsurprisingly, something attacked him as soon as he entered. Fortunately for him, it roared prematurely and Percy had a lot of time- about a second- to take out his sword and whip around, finding him face to face with a… what the heck was it?

It looked a little like a Chimera, with a black horse as the front, the back half a rooster, complete with wings, tail, legs and butt.

The thing was sulking in a shadow.

Percy's instincts kicked in, slashing at it. The thing was quite smart though. It flattened itself on the ground and the sword miss.

For a couple of minutes, they sparred back and forth. This thing was a lot more intelligent than monsters he had fought before. Even smarter than some Titans *cough* Kronos *cough*.

He quickly found the horooster thing had VERY sharp teeth, courtesy of a small bit the thing got at his arm.

After a few, it made a mistake and snapped to low. Percy strafed to the left and thrust forward, catching it in its throat and instantly disintegrating it.

Or so he thought. Instead of turning into yellow dust, it bled red blood.

The thing whimpered in pain, and Percy almost felt sorry for the thing. He decided to put it out of its misery. "Bye, Leroy," he said, making up a random name.

Leroy whimpered again, bowing its head in defeat. As Percy raised the sword over its head for a killing stroke, a voice tsk-ed. "Stay right there, Perseus," a deep male voice boomed.

Percy looked right and found Erebus standing there behind someone else. When he realized who it was, Percy's heart contracted.

It was Annabeth, barely conscious and slumped weakly against Erebus's bulky figure. Her figure showed utter exhaustion, and there was a large patch of red right under the heart that was spreading by the second.

The god had a nasty black dagger dug quite deep into her throat. A few small drops of blood were trickling from the point.

This time, Percy had a feeling this wasn't an illusion

"I'd hate for you to kill my pet," he smiled and emphasized on the knife in his hand. "Or else we might have to end this poor soul's life." He gestured to Annabeth.

She looked him in the eye a second, and Percy knew what to do. He nodded slightly, gripping his sword more tightly and pointing it at the shadow god.

He pretended to hesitate for a moment, and Erebus's grip on Annabeth weakened just a fraction, but it was enough.

The moment he let go that tiny bit, she stepped backwards on his feet. Erebus howled in pain and blindly slashed at her, but Annabeth had already dropped to the floor, the blade going wide. She delivered another kick to the god's knee, and Percy came in.

Being immortal, Erebus recovered quickly and met Riptide with a sword he had sheathed, dropping the dagger like Percy had hoped. He unleashed a quick strike of blows distracting the god as Annabeth dived past him, scooping up her blade.

Too late, Erebus realized that a very angry daughter of Athena armed with a knife was behind him, and he turned around just in time to see the butt of the blade slam into his temple.

The poor thing crumpled instantly. "Come on. That'll keep him occupied for a couple of seconds," she groaned, clutching a hand to her injury.

"WE have to get you some medical attention first," Percy demanded.

"Look for the backpacks."

Percy didn't argue and helped support her as Annabeth limped away, swearing worse than a sailor. "Language," He muttered. She punched him in the gut and told me to shut up.

"Love you to," Percy smiled in reply. "Let's get you out of here."

**No cliffhanger. Happy now? Review... or I'll make one. And it'll be BAD**

**Quote of the chapter- I've got a problem for your solution**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm**

**Song of the chapter- Diamonds by Rihanna (hate that song, but can't think of anything)**


	24. Jason XXIV

**Sorry for a short chapter!**

**New poll on my channel, go vote!**

**XIV**

**Jason **

Jason woke to an alarm, which was not a good way to start the day. The _BRIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGG G _echoed through the halls of the Argo II, and his eyes shot open, wondering what it was this time.

He quickly dressed and ran up the stairs to the helm.

"Jason!" Leo called, eyes frantic.

"What's up?" He asked. There were no monsters attacking any of the fleet, which Jason had decided to accompany to the plains of Marathon.

There was one ship missing- the one that used to be the 1st cohort's, but was sent home dishonorably.

"We've got a situation here," Leo said to him. He thrust a mic at Jason. "Talk to Malcolm and Nyssa."

Malcolm and Nyssa were on board one of the scout ships a couple miles ahead.

"Hello?" Jason asked into the microphone.

Nyssa's voice came on. "Jason?" She asked.

"What's up?"

"We've got a bad situation. It's a mortal fleet. They've spotted us."

"Excuse me?" Jason asked, not sure he heard correctly.

"Yeah, a mortal NATO fleet. They've sent us a radio message demanding us to halt and disarm weapons in 5 minutes, or they will fire. Apparently, they think we're some kind of hostile battle group."

He felt his face pale as Jason listened to Nyssa talk. The first thing that came to mind was to blow the mortals out of the water, of course, but he pushed the thought aside.

They couldn't be harmed unless absolutely necessary. "Try and get them on radio. We can get Piper to charmspeak them," he said after a moment and beckoned Piper over.

He waited. Malcolm's voice said, "Negative. They've denied radio contact."

This was one of the times when they needed Percy the most. He could throw up a big wave, or manipulate the Mist, or something. "What choices do we have?" Asked Jason.

"We can fire on them… maybe try to outrun them, but I doubt it, considering they're full steam already on intercept course. Malcolm can try to hack into their computer, but it'll take to long."

"Go for the hack. We'll find some way to delay them." Jason thought. How?

"He's on the computer now. Switching comms."

"This'll take a while, Jason. Mortal coders are more resourceful then you think."

"You mean you might not be able to do it?" Jason asked and immediately regretted the words.

The prideful son of Athena's voice shot back, "Who said that? Or maybe I can just stop everything and get shot to death?"

"Sorry, man. Just work on it."

What to do, what to do?

"4 minutes," Nyssa said.

"Leo? What do you have to delay them?" Jason asked.

Leo thought for a moment. Or at least, it seemed like it.

"I can try to snipe their weapons, but at 14 miles, I doubt we can make the shots. It's a big fleet- 2 submarines, 8 destroyers, 5 cruisers, a few assorted small warships, and-"

Leo swore. "What is it?" Jason asked, peering at the screen but unable to figure out what the different dots meant.

"This is not good man. There are 2 battleships in the center of the fleet, surrounding an aircraft carrier."

"So?" Jason asked, not seeing the importance.

"So? Battleships haven't been in service since 1992!" Leo practically shouted, which meant he was very stressed. "These 2 are massive, almost twice the size of the Iowa Class!"

He touched a couple buttons on the screen, and pinched it. The radar map zoomed into a hologram image of a ship.

Leo shot out some facts. "16 16-inch guns, mounted on 4 massive rotating turrets. 12 9 inch guns in smaller ones. Dozens of high caliber mounted turrets, 2 Centurion C-RAMs located fore and aft, and a bunch of small weapons. And the armor…. Titanium reinforced steel, plated with iridium throughout the ships to prevent fires from spreading. I think iridium has a melting point of like, 2000 degrees Celsius or something All the shells are specially designed to smash through armor, and then explode.."

Even though Jason knew nothing about ships, 16 inch guns sounded pretty big. "So can we take them in a fight?" He asked.

Leo snorted. "Of course we can. Don't underestimate my baby. But we'll take causalities, and might have to delay repairing damage."

Jason asked Malcolm again, "How's the hack going?"

The response was frantic and wild, "I'm trying! I've bypassed the firewall and security systems. What do you want me to do?"

"See if you can disable the ships' weapons for a while."

"Ok… entering command structure…." He swore. "Some clever mortal evaded one of my commands. I have to start over again or he'll find out it's us and fire."

"1 minute!" Nyssa warned.

Jason hesitated for a moment, but managed to force the words out of his mouth. "Leo… arm the ships. Prepare to fire."

"Excuse me?" Leo asked, disbelief in his eyes.

"Arm the fleet. Aim for the battleships," Jason said, his voice hoarse.

"Yes… yes sir."

He tapped some buttons, and sighed. "You're sure there's no other way?" He asked.

"Positive," Jason replied, still guilty at about what he was going to do.

"30 seconds!" Nyssa called. "How's the hack going, Malcolm?"

"I don't know!" He shouted back, sounding on the verge of breaking down. "The command deck is a whole new level of security! I haven't seen this kind since the Pentagon! And don't even get me started on that!"

"Ships are armed," Leo whispered. His finger hovered over a red button that probably meant "fire."

Jason took a deep breath. "Fi-" But he was cut off by a massive _BOOM_! He hesitated for a moment, wondering what was wrong. Nothing.

Then suddenly, something blew up 5 feet in front of Jason, hitting the Argo II's armor. He was thrown backwards and hit the deck hard. The mortals had fired on them.

As he got up, he shouted, even though he couldn't hear himself, "Fire, Leo! Unload!"

Another massive shell whizzed so close to Jason's head the wind pushed him over again. Several hundred meters behind him, an explosion rocked the deck of another ship, small cracks appearing in the Celestial Bronze hull.

The Argo II returned fire, cannons unloading and rockets soaring up. Smoke from other ships shot up as well as guns fired and ballistas shot.

Someone-Piper- grabbed his arm and heaved him up. "Leo! Where are you, Leo!" He shouted. Smoke from the explosion still blocked sight.

Someone, hopefully Leo replied, "Here!" *cough* "Dude, help me get-"*cough* "Get this off of me!"

Jason followed the sound of the voice and found Leo trapped under a smashed railing. He helped toss the debris aside. "Thanks, man," he gagged.

"Did they fire?"

Leo paled. "No. It wasn't them. It was something else from the other direction."

Keep voting on the poll!

**Bad cliffhanger, sowwy! Reviews are loved! Can we hit 500 by chapter 26?**

**Quote of the chapter- Three can keep a secret, if two are dead. D:**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Medieval II: Total War- Third Age Total War mod.**

**Song of the chapter- It's time by Imagine Dragons**


	25. Hazel XXV

**Poll on my acc. Go vote!**

**Ideas and reviews are all awesome! Can we reach 500 guys? LOve you if we can!**

**XXV**

**Hazel**

Things really began to suck after that. The demigod version of DEFCON 1, Recon Alpha (a.k.a shoot everything in sight) sounded as the mortals began unloading. Hazel screamed for everyone to duck and cover.

Seconds after she pushed herself flat against a shield, several massive _BOOM_s sounded and Hazel winced at the sound of a wood smashing and screams.

She ran up to Leo and shouted over the chaos, "Get us out of here now!"

He replied franticly, "Can't do it! Crete is blocking our north, and the mortals and the other enemies have us surrounded!"

"Who are the others?" Hazel asked.

Another explosion sounded nearby and Leo ducked as he screamed back, "I don't know!"

"Well then check!"

Just then, something slammed into the Argo II, rocking the ship dangerously sideways and throwing Hazel off her balance. She almost shouted for Percy to do something, then remembered he wasn't here as she fell into the water.

Coughing and sputtering, Hazel swam up to the surface. Fortunately, she wasn't wearing any armor.

She grabbed one of the ladders and hauled herself back up to the right side up, but dangerously rocking ship, soaking wet and her hair all over her face, blocking Hazel's vision.

As she hauled herself up to the deck, the demigod fleet returned fire to both sides in confusion with everything they had-ballistas, cannons, anti-air guns, rocket batteries, flak guns and pretty much everything pointy and dangerous.

"Leo!" Jason shouted from the other side of the ship. "Get me a visual on that other fleet!"

Hazel ducked as another cannonball flew overhead and in her cone of vision, she saw Leo jump over debris and start doing his thing at the helm.

The others stumbled on deck to find pure chaos happening. Hazel quickly explained the situation to them.

"Jason! Got a visual!" Leo shouted.

Everyone ran up the stairs and looked at the screen. The 2nd, unknown enemy navy firing on them looked like Ancient Greek as well, in a standard pincer formation. All the triremes were lightly armed with one scorpion ballista mounted at the head, and a human figure was on each of the 9 boats, loading it, while another aimed and fired it.

Standing on the helm of the one in the back was a massive human brute, clad head to toe in thick bronze armor. He had his hands behind his back, looking calmly forward, Napoleon Bonaparte style.

"Who is that?" Leo asked. He tapped the character, but a question mark came up next to it on the screen.

Nico frowned in concentration. "I remember this from one of the history lessons Annabeth once gave me. He's got something to do with Troy…" His eyes scrunched up.

He opened his mouth to speak just as another round of explosives hit the Argo II, and one landed not 10 feet away from where Hazel and the others were gathered, and she screamed as the shockwave sent her flying sideways overboard- again.

Hazel was really starting to hate getting chucked overboard.

More cannonballs and bolts splashed as demigods yelled and returned fire. The air began to fill with smoke from all the carnage.

Hazel climbed overboard just to see, on the outskirts of the formation, a trireme snap clean in half as another ballista bolt hit the ship, and people jumping overboard as it collapsed and sunk inwards.

All the other demigods were scattered throughout- Jason was stuck under rubble, Leo was pulling himself overboard and so on.

As she passed by the helm, Hazel heard a radio message being broadcast. "Mayday, mayday! This is Hellfire 2-1! We have multiple hull breaches and are gaining water! All ships in range, please assist, ple-"It was cut short by static, and in the distance, a massive fireball lit up the sky.

More ships fired.

The blood in Hazel's veins iced as she realized the voice was Nyssa's. Their ship was a forward scout about a 1 mile ahead of the main column, and although the alarm to withdraw into close battle formations had sounded, she couldn't tell if the ship had made it back to be saved.

"Leo!" Hazel called franticly.

Leo was lying on the deck, breathing heavily, but with no injuries. "Leo!"

"Yeah?" He muttered quietly as he opened his eyes. Hazel kicked him. "Ow!" He protested.

"Get up!" Hazel hissed at him. He grumbled, but stood up and jogged over to the helm.

Another ship groaned in the distance as a second message began relaying through the intercom. "Hellooo, young demigods. I'd hate to kill your friends so painfully. Unfortunately, you have something I… require. So unless you want me to send all you all to an early grave, you will cease fire. I've… dealt with the mortals temporarily. You might want to hurry too before they begin shooting again."

Jason had heard it too, and instantly, he was on the radio, yelling at everyone, "Cease fire! Cease fire and count causalities! I repeat, cease fire!"

He seemed pretty desperate. "Jason!" Hazel interrupted. "Don't you think it's a bit rash, what you're doing?"

He turned to face her and sighed. "I know, but… I don't want my friends to be hurt anymore."

Slowly, everything quieted down as the demigod ships stopped launching missiles and began to reorganize. There were several ships that were destroyed, but Hazel could see bodies treading water. At least they weren't dead.

"Leo, get us over to that guy's ship," Jason said.

"Aye, Aye, Captain Grace," Leo saluted sarcastically and began shaking his Wii remote (What is a Wii, anyway?), raising the sails.

The heavy-armor dude's fleet wasn't too far away, and with the Argo II's engines, they had covered 5 miles in 1 and a half minutes. Again, Hazel had to respect modern technology.

As the Argo II neared the pincer formation, she realized they were pretty vulnerable, with no support (Jason had told the others not to follow). Fortunately, the enemy's weapons didn't seem to be armed.

The ship docked next to the lead ship. The big dude in armor was waiting for them, flanked on either side by ghostly people dressed as ancient sailors carrying compasses (did they have them during the Ancient Greek time?), holographic swords and Rubix Cubes. Hazel didn't know why they had the last.

"Welcome, welcome!" The guy said, like Effie Trinket in that Hunger Games movie introducing them to the Capitol. "My name is Ajax! You may call me Awesome Super Soldier, or ASS!"

Ajax did not know how to create names. Now that he was close, Hazel could make out his facial features- Sea-green eyes like Percy and messy black hair that he had dyed blue messily.

Jason frowned. "Weren't you that guy from Troy?"

"Gah! Don't even remind me about Troy!" Ajax threw up his hands in exasperation. "After Achilles died and the war ended, I didn't even get his armor! I was the King's greatest soldier. And who gets it instead? That puny, weak son of Athena, Odysseus!"

Hazel nudged Piper, who was next to her, and nodded.

Piper distracted the warrior, saying "Oh but Lord Ajax! Everyone talks about you!" She poured fake respect into her charmspeak.

He looked at her warily. "Reaaallly? What do they say?"

Frank piped up, "Um, they ahhh… They say you have a great, deep voice! And-and a um… a beautiful sword!" He stuttered, pointing at the gigantic blade strapped to ASS's back.

ASS-jax smiled. "Correct! Would you like to see some swordplay?" He jumped up and down like a young boy excited to get a balloon.

"Um, not right now, Lord Ajax," Piper quickly said. "We'd like to negotiate what you want."

"Ahh, yes. You see, my request is not just any ordinary one. I need… something special."

Maybe it was Hazel's imagination, but he looked at Piper.

"What may that be?" Piper questioned. She looked slightly panicked. Apparently, she also saw ASSjax look at her.

"Well, I deserve payment for fighting in the Trojan War, don't I? My King was murdered before he could pay me. Sad, as they say his gold was completely pure, untouched in any way."

Hazel began to put together what Ajax wanted.

"What may that be, Lord?" Piper asked, bowing slightly.

Ajax scratched his tiny stub of slightly darkened skin you could consider a beard. "Well," He mused. "I could just ask for a couple demigod sacrifices and let Mother Earth pay me, but she's too picky. I mean, how do you pick up 2 demigods in the depths of Tartarus?" He exclaimed.

With a jolt, Hazel realized he was talking about Percy and Annabeth. "No, I'll just leave this whole 'end of the world' thing alone and settle for something that once belonged to the whole reason of the war."

Oh no, here it comes.

"You see, what I'm threat- I mean, asking you for, is Helen's Looking Glass, Katoptris."

**DUN DUN DUUUUN! **

**Quote of the chapter- The more you ignore an explosion, the cooler you look.**

**Song of the chapter- Youtube Rewind Style by Google ft PSY, Walk Off The Earth, Nigahiga, Smosh, CorridorDigital, FreddieW, and a bunch of other Youtube celebreties. (Very late I know but eh, I wrote this on 12/27/12, who knows when I'll post it)**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Natural Selection.**


	26. Leo XXVI

**Thanks everyone for 500 reviews! How many do you think we can get this chapter?**

**Sorry for shortness and errors!**

**XXVI**

**Leo**

Before anyone could say anything, Piper replied, "No."

ASS raised his eyebrows. Or tried to. It looked more like a mutated toad when he did it.

"Excuse me?" He replied coolly, though Leo figured that he was probably hiding an explosion of anger.

"No. I will not hand over the blade," Piper said with equal calmness. She had a dangerous light in her eyes like when Connor soaked her bed with makeup and she charmspeaked him to walk around stark naked.

"In which case, I might have to blow up your friends." ASS said, inspecting his tiny blob of keratin on his finger, which Leo supposed you could call a nail.

"Umm, actually, do you mind if we discuss this?" Piper asked sweetly.

"Of course not! Go ahead!" The warrior, subdued by charmspeak left them.

"What do we do?" She hissed as soon as he left.

"Piper," Jason said. "There's nothing we can do. Just give him the dagger. I'm sure we'll find another weapon for you."

"This isn't just any blade!" She whisper-screamed. "It rightfully belongs to me! And besides, I've been seeing things in the- Never mind."

Leo interrupted, "What have you been seeing?"

Piper paled. "I'll tell you later. But we can't just give it to him! It's our only like to Percy and Annabeth." She said horridly.

Nico fidgeted his finger. "You've been seeing them, haven't you?"

Piper hesitated. "Yes. But I'll tell you all later! What do we do?"

Leo was already working out a plan in his head. His plan wasn't as magnificent as something Annabeth could come up with, but as a son of Hephaestus, he could see that Ajax's ship, as magnificent as it looked, was actually barely supporting itself. The way it sailed, the uneven deck.

"I've got an idea. Do you all trust me?" Leo asked.

"No!" Everyone replied at the same time. ASS came over. "Do we have this figured out?" He asked, putting his hand on Piper's shoulder, who stiffened.

She replied, dripping with charmspeak, "Not yet. Give us a couple more minutes, will you dear?"

"Sure," ASS replied in a monotone and left.

"What's your plan?" Frank asked skeptically.

"We need to get to the lower deck. Then I can cause some ruckus and hopefully we can get out of here."

Frank replied irritably, "And how do you suppose we get down to the lower level?" This guy was just waiting for an excuse to make Leo look bad.

"I'm working on that part," Leo replied with the same irritation. "I'm not Annabeth, you know."

"You said you had the plan already worked out," Frank pointed out.

"Oh I'm sorry," Leo replied with sarcasm. "I meant to say, I only h-"

"Leo! Enough! You too, Frank." Piper stepped in between them. "I'll find us a way to get us downstairs. Lord ASS!" She called.

He came over, smiling. "Well, what's our decision?"

"Lord Ajax, I have decided to give you the knife, a-"

"What?" Leo hissed in Piper's ear. She ignored him and continued, "but you only deserve the best. May we trouble you if we head down to the armory and have our mechanic," she gestured to Leo, who was beginning to understand her, "make sure it is in perfect condition, lord?"

This girl was GOOD.

"Of course not!" Ajax smiled. He waved us downstairs. Just like that.

Leo frowned. "He's not even going to put guards on us?"

"Hurry, that guy is hard to charmspeak." He could see the beginnings of sweat forming on her forehead.

Leo raced down the stairs, the rest of the demigods behind. The lower deck was slightly lit, with many beams supporting the top deck. The armory was on the other end. "So… what's the idea?" Nico asked. He seemed unconvinced, but in a more… sensible way, you could say.

"This ship is on the verge of collapse. I should be able to bring down some of the top deck and cause some ruckus without looking suspicious to those dudes." Leo pointed at the 2 ghostly guards flanking the entrance to the armory.

He began slowly sauntering down, tapping the beams with his hammer here, unscrewing a screw slightly there. Too any regular person, it would look like he was just fooling around. But although he wasn't like a child of Athena, Leo had experience in engineering and some knowledge in physics and began running some numbers through his head.

After a couple more tinkers, he pretended to drop the hammer- and it hit a beam. "Careful, th-"A guard started but then the entire ship suddenly groaned.

The guard flickered nervously and looked up just to see half of the entire upper deck fall on him. He disappeared instantly as Leo and the seven started coughing and backed up from the debris and smoke. "Let's get out of here!" Leo shouted

The dashed for the stairs as more beams snapped and pieces of the floor began caving in.

They made it to the stairs and sprinted up. Just as Leo, who was last made it, they collapsed inward. "Get to the ship!" Jason shouted somewhere. The ship was starting to list to port, and if they didn't get the Argo II out, it would smash into the ship. Leo grabbed a small razor saw from his tool belt and cut the mooring lines as everyone leaped aboard and dashed for the helm.

Ajax's ship snapped clean in half as Leo throttled the engine and lowered the sails. "All Hellfire elements, this is Hellfire lead! Open fire! Open fire on the triremes!" Leo screamed into the radio as one of ASS's ships opened fire and barely missed the helm.

IN the distance, many booms sounded. Several seconds later, water began flying up and ships began lighting on fire as the demigods fired Greek Fire ballista bolts.

Leo drifted the Argo II around the snapped lead ship, past Ajax who was treading water and shouting insults at them. Jason silenced him by electrocuting him with a lightning bolt. "Get us out of here, Leo!" He shouted and ducked as another projectile soared overhead.

Coach Hedge was firing the scorpion ballista at the head of the ship, while the others manned the other weapons throughout the deck.

Another enemy ship to Leo's left exploded as he hit afterburner, using the Archimedes Sphere installed in the engine room to send a massive amount of electricity through the system.

The sky was beginning to fill and smell like smoke. The afterburner took effect at this point, rocketing the ship forward to 45 knots an hour and within the minute, they were back with the fleet. Leo inspected the damage to it.

He counted 3 shipwrecks, and multiple heavily damaged boats. One of them flashed a green light at them, signaling no dead, though several wounded, but that was to be expected.

"This is head to all Hellfire elements. Hit the throttle, raise the sails. We are headed to Greece. Next stop- Marathon Plains!" Leo said.

A bunch of transmissions came in as the different lower ranking leaders affirmed the order and within minutes, they were on the move again.

But Leo had forgotten something. He realized it just as several booms sounded in the distance. The mortals were back. And they were angry.

**Ok, guys so I've decided I'll probably update once, maybe twice a week. Usually every Wednesday. **

**Still trying to get used to Word 2010….**

**Quote of the chapter- Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?**

**Song of the chapter- Titanium by David Guetta ft Sia.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Mass Effect 3. I know I already mentioned this game, but it was so great I just had to say it again. But if you must, Borderlands 2.**

**xXx**


	27. Nico XXVII

**Ok important POV update- Frank chapters are now only every other Argo II POV round after Nico. So no Frank this time, he will star on chapter… 35 :0.**

**Enjoy!**

**XXVII**

**Nico**

Nico wanted to shout at Leo, to smash his sword against his head, maybe to clear it up a little, but it was too late. The mortals fired into the vulnerable flank of the fleet, and he yelled at everyone to duck and cover as the mortal fleet's projectiles began wreaking havoc throughout the demigods.

Although the response was quick, the initial blast had caught them off guard, and the mortals managed to get off a second volley before the ship crews managed to respond to the high pitched alarm and reach RECON Bravo (DEFCON 2) positions and shields activated.

Shields?

Well, yeah. They weren't exactly like plasma spheres that could block nuke blasts like you see in Halo and Mass Effect, but they did a good job of keeping smaller projectiles out and reduced the damage of larger ones by slowing it down. They were invisible too, so that helped.

RECON Bravo ordered to fire only when fired upon, which they had, so demigods unloaded into the mortals, unleashing a wave of hurt.

"Leo!" Nico ran to the helm, sliding under as a projectile soared overhead (**Cuz Nico is just awesome that way)** and reached him. "How could you forget?" He screamed. Nico glanced at the rest of the crew. Piper and Hazel, unable to do much, were under, waiting things out while Frank and Coach Hedge worked a ballista. Jason was trapped underneath some rubble, but he looked OK.

Leo was madly clicking attack orders and stuff. "I just forgot!"

Nico took in a deep breath. _Calm down, _he told himself. "Is there any way to escape the mortals?"

Leo hesitated. "There is one way. We could dash for the cover of Crete, about 100 miles north. But we will not make it far, they have too many guns."

"Try," Jason said, coming up behind the 2. "Is there any way to hold up the mortals without harming them?"

"No, t- Well, there's something I can do, but it's never been tested before." Leo said carefully.

Nico quickly responded, "What is it?"

The son of Hephaestus took a deep breath. "It's a secret weapon the camp designed if we ever needed to fight the Romans. A magnetic thermonuclear blast that's been altered to not harm any living things, but will wreck any sort of godly metal and can disable electronics."

Jason opened his mouth, but Leo quickly added, "It's still in a very pre-pre-alpha stage. It could explode in the tube, or release a nuclear blast and flatten the entire island of Crete. Not to mention it would kill us. The shields it releases to contain the explosion itself is still in development."

"What about the mortal metals like gold, iron and titanium?" Jason asked.

"We only know for sure that Iridium and silver won't be unaffected by the EMP blast."

This time, Jason seemed more hesitant to use the weapon. "Is there any other choice?" He asked.

Leo shrugged. "As said, we could destroy the mortals-"

"Not happening," Nico cut in. The mortals had already been through enough during the Second Titan War.

Leo shit him an irritated look. "As I was saying, we could blow them up, or try to outrun them, or use the weapon."

Nico looked at Jason, giving him the look that said, "Well? You've always wanted to be the leader instead of Percy. Here's your chance."

Jason ignored his look and thought. Or at least, Nico hoped he did.

He said, after a while, "Use the weapon."

Leo held his finger in the air for a moment, then touched a random point. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the most amazing thing.

Nico stumbled back as out of nowhere, a hologram of some sort of map appeared in front of Leo, with virtual buttons on the bottom. It was about as wide as Leo arm to arm, and slightly taller than him. The entire thing was shaded blue, and darker parts obviously represented deeper parts.

He also guessed that the small circles to the bottom right were the demigods, while the red dots a slightly to the right were probably the mortals.

A blob of green ahead mostly likely was Crete.

Leo smiled evilly. "Welcome to the Argo II- Battle Stations active."

He grabbed the air to his right, and a blue ball appeared. He dragged it in front of him and let it float there, then pinched it with both hands. A diagram of some sort of artillery shell appeared, with information Nico's ADHD and dyslexia couldn't process.

Leo quickly scanned it, then pinched it out and threw the ball back to the side again, where it disappeared. Nico would only watch in awe as Leo began tapping buttons and dragging lines, probably the course of the prototype weapon.

After a couple minutes, Leo said, "It's ready to fire."

The map now had a new red button floating around next to the map, and a line was connecting the Argo II to the mortals.

"Give me one more visual on the mortal fleet," Jason said.

Leo double tapped the red dots, arranged in a hexagon. The map zoomed so that it only showed them, in an overhead satellite view. Then Leo pinched the map and it zoomed again, now from a much more detailed perspective. Nico could see the individual sailors running around. The point of view seemed to be facing the head of the fleet, above them and moving backwards as the mortals advanced.

"Some of it is simulated, but you get the idea." Leo said, a small smile of pride playing at this lips.

After a couple seconds, Jason took a deep breath. "Use it."

Leo nodded and punched the red button to his left. Then he dragged a holographic microphone out of nowhere and spoke into it, "All Hellfire elements, the Mother Load is firing. Standby."

At the head of the ship, Festus creaked and opened his mouth, a tube coming out of it. Then something in it went BOOM and a missile shot out of its mouth, leaving little smoke in its path. It quickly disappeared from sight and Festus retracted its mouth.

Nico turned his attention back to the holographic map display. Just as something exploded in the distance, the hologram suddenly whitened. When everything returned to normal, the mortal ships were still there. Except, they had stopped moving and the lights coming off of them were gone. The guns had ceased firing as well.

Nico almost smiled in joy. But then things went wrong. Another explosion sounded, and everything white-outed. This time, when everything cleared up, things did not look good. Nico gasped slightly. Jason muttered "My gods," and Leo just stood there in shock.

The ships were completely nonexistent. In their place, was an entire mess of debris. Large pieces of metal that used to be the hull and rectangular tubes that once fired were strewn about. Many human figures were in the midst, some unmoving, others desperately clinging to something. One super-massive piece stood out. It was probably the top deck of the aircraft carrier in the center of the fleet.

"No," Jason said, eyes wide in shock.

"So that's what happens when it's used against mortal metals," Leo whispered. "What do we do?"

Jason frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do we continue on, or try and save them?"

Nico looked at the son of Jupiter as he got a troubled expression on his face, debating whether to lose time and save the mortals, or ignore them in hopes of saving the whole world sooner.

"I… don't know."

Leo's eyes flashed in anger. "Well, you should! This is what a leader does. Decide." He practically shouted.

"I…" Jason looked down. Nico stood by, watching him carefully. He was resisting the urge to strangle Jason for making bad decisions and utterly failing at leading the Argo II.

"Decide." Nico spoke.

Jason's fists clenched. He closed his eyes, and spoke slowly, "Keep going."

Right so! As a celebration for 500 reviews, all you wonderful people are allowed to ask me ANYTHING, so long as it's not private, like phone number, last name (I might tell you my first…) and such. Ask away!

(Sorry for forgetting this in the last chapter)

**Jason! How could you!**

**Quote of the chapter- DEATH: The number 1 killer in the world. Tell your friends.**

**Song of the chapter- Skyfall by Adele**

**Entertainment of the chapter- FTL- Faster Than Light**

**xXx**


	28. Percy XXVIII

Hey, "slut-f*ck." So, you say you can write better than me, huh? I find that quite amusing, considering I found 6 errors in a 2 sentence review. But then again, you ARE just a 8 year old kid who's trying to act "badass." Show me that you can write better than me. Create an account, post a story, and then notify me.

**OH GODS GUYS! PERCY JACKSON AND KANE CHRONICLES CROSSOVER IN SERPENT SHADOW PAPERBACK! I'm buying it, enough said.**

**XXVIII**

**Percy**

He felt that warm sensation that he was all too used to be now. Blood. Blood from his own chest wound, and from Annabeth's, who had lost conscious after excess blood loss from an arrow wound.

They were in a cave, hiding from a pack of hellhounds. Surprisingly, it was harder for monsters to find them down here. Maybe it was because their smell was harder to identify. Maybe it was Gaea saving them for the "sacrifice." Or maybe they were just to flimsy to eat. Percy hoped it wasn't the 3rd one.

Either way, Percy himself was struggling to say conscious. Everything was hazy, and the steady _drip-drop _of the water from the ceiling (Percy couldn't control it, though) lulled him.

He was so tired, so worn out, both mentally and physically.

_Perseus Jackson, Hero of Olympus,_ he thought bitterly. He was really going to give it to the gods if they made it back up.

Suddenly, another wave of exhaustion slammed into him. Before he knew it, Percy's eyes were closed.

When he woke up, the first thing he realized was that Annabeth was still with him. That was odd. They several times they had both fallen asleep, Percy either awoke to him being in some different place or Annabeth missing.

Either way, they had to move before something caught their scent again.

Annabeth was awake, and although she was still clutching a hand to her wound, she looked like she could walk all right.

They left without a word, though Percy suspected they were both thinking about how unfair fate had to be.

And that was why he almost missed them.

An old lady was knitting a Godzilla sized sweater stopped and looked Percy in the eye, and had her piercing black pupil not glared into Percy's soul, he never would've seen her. Slowly and deliberately, she held up 2 strings, both a dark color (It was too far away to see clearly) and snipped them dramatically. Even from half a mile away, the sound resonated through the depths of Tartarus.

Percy stopped momentarily in shock. He blinked, and when he looked again, they were gone.

It could have been his mind playing tricks, but Percy had a good feeling that they were real. "Annabeth," he whispered. "I saw them."

She looked up grimly and asked, "Who?"

"The Fates. They snipped 2 strings."

Annabeth shook her head weakly. "We already know that. Not much of a surprise."

It was no sooner she said that, when someone shouted, "Hello?" In the distance. Percy frowned.

After a couple more seconds, the same voice sounded, "I know someone's here! Helloooo?"

Annabeth frowned. "I think we should go see who it is."

Percy and Annabeth walked/limped over towards the voice. They walked for a couple of minutes. Then, the voice came into view. Over a small hill, a man was strapped to a pinwheel, about 2 heads taller than Percy. The person on it was spinning around it, and he was moving too fast to make out features.

"Heeeelp!" The guy cried as he went for another round. Percy stepped in and put his foot on a pedal near the machine, and the wheel came to a half. He didn't cut the guy's bonds, though in case he was trouble.

"Who are you?" Percy asked.

The guy, who had brown eyes and sandy hair like Luke, "humphed" and said, "If you can remove these infernal shackles, I might even tell you."

"Not until," Annabeth warned.

"Well, you may have heard of me, Your Royal Awesome Highness. Back then, I was known as.." The guy paused for effect, "King Ixion!"

Percy stared at him blankly. "Who? And why are you spinning on a wheel?"

"Well, I was the king of the Lapith! Glorious kingdom, she was!" Ixion attempted to do one of those epic-and-dramatic-stare-off-into-the-distance sort of things. Problem was, he was strapped to a wheel and was facing the ground, so staring at hard-packed dirt didn't have the same effect.

"And why are you on the wheel?" Percy asked again.

"Ha! Ask the stupid marriage goddess, Hera!" He exclaimed.

Annabeth winced. "Yeah, sure… but you see, in case you haven't noticed, we're in Tartarus, so that might be a little bit of a problem."

Ixion frowned. "We are?"

"Yeah," Percy resisted the urge to snort.

"Oh… Ur, how long has it been?" the king asked.

Percy looked at Annabeth expectantly, who scowled at him and said, "2000, maybe 3000 years."

"2000 years and Hera still doesn't admit she's wrong…" Ixion muttered.

"Wrong about what?"

"You see," Ixion started. Percy tried not to throw up as he realized he was about to start an entire story, the whole shmeer. "I was once a proud king," he said. "Even the gods were humbled by me. One day, I was at a party on Olympus and Hera… ah, she got a bit drunk on nectar. And we went into a corner and ah… you know."

Percy felt a wave of nausea. "Oh gods," he said. "You mean, you had se-um, you uh… made love with the goddess of marriage?"

Annabeth imitated barfing.

"She was the one who made me! Female rape!" He cried and struggled against the bonds holding him against the wheel.

"So what do you want?" Percy asked.

"Get me off this cursed wheel, damn you!" Ixion shouted and kept struggling.

"Not unless you give me something in return."

"What do you want?" said a certain person strapped on a wheel who had done it with Hera.

Percy thought for a moment. "Help," he said. "Help getting us out of this place."

Annabeth groaned in annoyance and slapped Percy's head. Percy gave her his Seaweed Brain smile and ducked another punch.

"I supposed I could try something…" Ixion mused. "But first, I've got a friend you might want to meet."

Percy frowned as a deep hum began sounding behind him. He turned around and yelped, jumping to the side just as a black Mercedes exploded into existence and ran right past him. Annabeth dived in the other direction and the car drove off the small hill, smashing into the wheel.

The car crumpled, and the wheel didn't even move, as if saying, "That all you got?"

As Percy picked himself from the ground, the door opened, and someone stepped out. It was a woman, average height. But she was different. Her hair looked like tree roots, constantly shifting and her eyes were pure black. Her whole body seemed to be made of rock or dirt.

"Gaea," Percy hissed. He was really getting pissed at this dirt lady.

Gaea casually fanned her face and exclaimed, "My, my, its freezing in here, isn't it?" She asked.

It was about 80 degrees down in Tartarus, unless Percy had suddenly developed a resistance to cold in the days they had been down here.

Percy couldn't resist and blurted, "Nope."

"Either way, you and your excuse of a girlfriend are getting slightly… on my nerves," the earth goddess said. Percy gulped. That couldn't mean anything good.

Annabeth sighed to his right. "If you're going to give us the whole 'join me or I'll blast you to bits' speech, just skip to the second part."

Gaea's eyes flashed with anger and a pebble flew towards Annabeth, who casually sidestepped it.

Then a gigantic rock came out of the ground, and Percy heard Annabeth mutterer, "Oh, gods."

"Run," Percy said. They instantly took off, the rock, which was twice the size of Zeus's Fist, flying overhead and smashing into the ground, sending shrapnel everywhere. Annabeth tore to the left with Percy hot on her heels.

For about 10 seconds, Percy thought that they would be able to get away. Then he felt something smash into his head, and everything went black.

**Ok, first, I barely got any questions last chapter, so submit more before I answer.**

!***THIS IS IMPORTANT***! I'm going on a 3 week vacation, guys, so expect maybe one update this entire month. Sorry, but blame my parents for dragging me across the world!

**Quote of the chapter- I'm so gangster, I carry a squirt gun.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Texas Chainsaw**

**Song of the chapter- Demons by Imagine Dragons.**

**xXx**


	29. Annabeth XXIX

**Now that I look at it again, all the haters on this story seem quite amusing watching them flame their heads off.**

**Haters gonna hate. **

**Annabeth**

**XXIX**

When Annabeth woke up, she was lying on the floor in a dark cave. There were the remains of a fire in front of here, and it was too dark to make out anything else.

Annabeth tried to recall what had happened. She was running from a giant boulder *cough* Gaea *cough*, and then a rock or something had smashed into her head, and she passed out.

She still had a nasty headache from it. She probably had a concussion as well. As Annabeth's eyes adjusted to the dark, she could make out Percy's figure lying next to her, still unconscious and another person against the wall.

It saw her and said, "Awake, now, sleeping beauty?"

It was Ixion. Annabeth doubted she could be able to beat him in her still weak and tired state, courtesy of this stupid Abyss.

Then she realized her ears were still ringing, and as they stopped, the faraway screams that had been sounding and drove her insane began to come into focus again.

"What… what are you doing?" She asked weakly and attempted to push herself into a sitting position, but Ixion came over and stopped him. He looked terrible, with dirt and scratches all over him, though Annabeth was probably worse.

"Stay. You're still very weak after your skull almost shattered," he said.

Annabeth gulped. "Excuse me?"

Just then, Percy groaned and stirred next to her, and Ixion went over and trickled something into his mouth. Nectar, Annabeth thought. The thought made her mouth water slightly.

"So.. ho-what, I mean where?" Annabeth stuttered, which was unusual for a daughter of Athena.

Ixion sighed. "Gaea threatened me and pushed me around a bit to escort you two to the Doors, don't ask why. Said if I don't cooperate, a forever spinning wheel would be the least of my worries."

Annabeth blinked. "Basically, you're kidnapping us."

"Protecting you. Of course, I can't fight every monster for you. That would be too easy. But Gaea has given me her blessing, and I have… valuable items."

To show his point, he held out the canteen of nectar. Annabeth scowled just as Percy shuffled and muttered, "What?"

"We're being demigodnapped," she sighed and leaned against the wall. Percy looked plain exhausted, with his hair extremely messy and circles under his eyes.

Nothing really extraordinary happened over the next couple days. Ixion trudged on towards the growing feeling of evil power, and Annabeth and Percy followed him. The average day went like this:

Wake up, pack up and clean up, get attacked by hellhounds, start walking, get attacked by hellhounds, keep walking, get attacked by penguins (shrug), lunch, keep walking, get attacked by magic arrows, keep walking, get attacked by more hellhounds, keep walking and a quick break, get attacked by Barney, settle down for the night, sleep, repeat.

But that was only the physical part.

Annabeth's nerves were on end and she was ready to go insane from the sheer amount of pressure Tartarus was putting on her as it tried to devour her sanity. The attacks became more violent and longer, and each one showed more horrible things.

Ixion wasn't much help. In fact, he was pretty much a ghost following them.

So Annabeth was surprised when that fateful day came. The one that really changed her and Percy. The one that showed just how bad Tartarus was.

First hint was the fact that they were attacked by much larger packs of monsters that day.

Second hint was that Ixion seemed to lag behind especially, like he wanted to get away.

Third hint was an especially powerful feeling of evil that day.

And unfortunately for Annabeth, 3 strikes and you're out.

Around midday, a bellow suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Annabeth internally groaned. _How many telkhines this time?_ She wondered.

Then out of the light mist that day, a huge figure came out of the shadows, and Annabeth realized it was NOT a telkhine.

"Oh gods," Annabeth muttered and grabbed Percy's arm.

The thing was a massive bull figure that made the Minotaur look like an ant. It was at least 15 feet tall and guess what? It's eyes glowed red and was completely on fire. In one hand it carried a huge spiked ball studded with metal points attached to a poll with chain, in the other, a sword that would take several Hephaestus kids to even pick up.

"Um… Annabeth?" Percy asked and took a step back. "Isn't that supposed to be from Lord of the Rings?"

"I think so," Annabeth said in a small voice, thinking about the Balrogs.

_I have a little playmate who's bored. Entertain him will you? And try not to get killed. _Gaea's voice purred softly.

Percy groaned and started walking backwards carefully, taking out Riptide. "Out of all the things that try to kill us, it HAS to be my favorite monster ever?"

The Balrog roared, and swung its large mace thing. Annabeth dove to the left and yelped as the massive ball buried itself half a foot deep into the ground.

Through the dust, she could see Ixion yelling and Percy getting up with a sword. Ixion charged, a full bronze shield and spear appearing out of nowhere.

Annabeth eyed the backpack, which Ixion had dropped. She knew it carried another shield and a bow and arrow. Making sure the Balrog's attention was focused on Percy and Ixion, she dove for it and quickly unzipped and removed the shield, strapped it onto her arm, and then took out the bow and slung the arrows over her shoulder.

The shield was specially designed for shooting, and it was small enough to hold on the arm while firing anything from flamethrowers to crossbows to longbows to people.

Annabeth quickly nocked an armor piercing arrow (It even explodes! Buy now for $10000 an arrow!) and aimed it at the bull's head. She let loose, then stumbled back momentarily, not used to the kickback of the double composite bow. Normally, Annabeth would have opted for either longbow, crossbow or recurve bow, but it was hard to be picky in Tartarus.

The arrow flew true and smashed its heavy weight tip into the Balrog's skull. Normally, this would kill any mortal being. But instead disintegrating the Balrog, it just embedded itself about a quarter inch deep.

The bull thing roared in pain, then slammed its mace towards Annabeth, who just managed to avoid getting her head taken off. Then it took a deep breath.

Annabeth realized what it was going to do and quickly threw a marble into the air.

Just as the best blew fire out of its mouth, the "marble" bursted into a solid wall of water. Thank Gaea.

The flame harmlessly bounced off the water wall and disappeared.

Annabeth saw Percy take this as his chance to strike. He jumped in and, following a quick thrust from Ixion, yelled a battle cry and stabbed Riptide with both hands into the Balrog's thigh. The beast didn't even bat an eye.

It muttered something... did it just speak Ancient Greek? Either way, Annabeth couldn't make out what it said and it looked down to see Percy backing up quickly. It growled and Annabeth quickly shot another arrow into its skull before it could splatter Percy into a Percy Pizza (made in Tartarus, top quality!). Fortunately, it looked away from Percy.

Unfortunately, it looked at Annabeth. The thing bellowed in anger or pain and stomped its foot, and Annabeth let out a small swear before the thing charged, both his massive berserker sword and head-mashing mace in a ready-to-swing position.

Too late, as she dived, Annabeth realized that the bull was prepared. It swung its mace sideways and caught her chest midair. Any normal person would have frozen stiff and probably died from the impact. But instead of doing that, Annabeth let her body go limp, absorbing the shock and flying several dozen feet backwards.

She bit her lip as she felt a sharp pain in her chest and back as she landed hard, but didn't sem to be seriously injured.

Then the thing talked. "You cannot defeat me, daughter of Athena. I am Hyperion. I am the TITAN OF LIGHT!" He bellowed and blew flame into the air for good measure.

"So, I assume that this… this is your full form?" Annabeth asked timidly, searching for her bow behind her.

It responded by snorting and slamming his mace again. Annabeth rolled out of the way as she closed her fingers around her bow. In an instant, she was up and had 2 arrows nocked against the arrow, and fired both of them into Hyperion's skull.

It roared yet again (Annabeth was getting tired of hearing it roar) and this time, pulled a new trick. He slung the axe over his back and raised his hand up high, and it began to glow like a lantern. Its entire body lit up like a flame, and Annabeth averted her glare.

Wrong move.

She heard stomping, and too slowly, turned back to face the sun-like figure just in time to see the sharp edge of Hyperion's sword cut into her virtually unprotected chest.

**Review maybe?**

**Quote of the chapter- ****I got you a present; it's a CD. I hope you haven't got it, because I don't have a receipt... and I didn't exactly buy it.**

**Song of the chapter- It's Time by Imagine Dragons**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion**

**xXx**


	30. Jason XXX

**I've been really busy later, but I promise updates will be more more regular!**

**In other news… The 2 chapters in which Lezal happens will be rewritten to be more dramatic. I'm completely redoing Circle of Life with the same early plot, but it really deepens as the story progresses and will be much better.**

**XXX**

**Jason**

Jason tried to ignore the looks people gave him as he headed back onboard the Argo II. He was still extremely guilty for ignoring mortals, and prayed to the gods their sacrifice would pay off.

Some demigods looked at him in confusion, others in anger, and even others in horror. It felt so different leading here than back on Mount Tam. It was all so simple- the other 2 praetors have been killed, and as a son of Jupiter, Jason was supposed to lead them to victory, and it worked.

Although most of the Romans didn't bother him, many of the Greek demigods went out of their way to stay away. Romans, Jason knew never questioned their orders, even if it meant laying them their lives or abandoning comrades. In the Greek camp, you could get badly accused of making a wrong decision, mostly because in order to become a leader, you had to work hard and earn fame, in which people would look up to you as a perfect soldier.

Jason was finally beginning to understand just how stressful it had for Percy and Annabeth to lead Camp Half Blood. Even now, they were still recovering from massive losses in the Giant War. Campers had told him that only 10 campers were able to fight Kronos by the time the entire war was over.

Although only minor injuries were reported since the last attack, a lot of supplies were destroyed and several ship had sunk, so the fleet had stopped in Crete to refit and repair.

Today was July 22nd already. Only 10 days until August 1st, the day Gaea said she would rise. Speaking of which, the Earth goddess hadn't made any form of contact with anyone for the past weeks. Jason took that as a bad sign.

As Jason walked aboard the ship, Piper grabbed his arm and he looked away to hide his depressed face. "Jason, you made the right decision out there," Piper said, but both of them knew he should've stopped and saved the mortals.

"I don't know, Pipes. Did I?" He questioned himself, looking into the sky hoping someone or something would help him get out of this.

She didn't answer, which meant "no."

Jason crashed in his bunk, hopefully for a sleepless night. But demigods don't have any good luck.

He was standing in a reddish-black landscape, with small hills. Screams and moans could be heard continuously, and as Jason blocked his ears unsuccessfully, he realized that he was in Tartarus.

Suddenly, the thick fog on the ground cleared and his hearing focused. Ahead of him was Percy, Annabeth and a fragile-looking adult fighting off something that looked like the Minotaur's dad that was on fire.

"Percy!" Jason tried to call, but his voice didn't work. He couldn't move either. Jason could only watch as the apparently intelligent bull thing struck a sword into Annabeth's unprotected chest and Percy yelling. Then everything swirled.

_It is hopeless, _Gaea's voice muttered as another darker scene came into view.

Nothing was visible under the zero-light situation. He could hear voices though. One sounded like multiple screeching women, yet not human.

"The time comes," It hissed. Jason realized with a start that it was Arachne. "The lovers are taking the bait."

It was talking about Percy and Annabeth. Jason shuddered.

"What about their friends above?" A more deep, but human voice asked.

Arachne stirred in the darkness. "The telkhines' idea is quite… fictional based, but it will delay Jason Grace long enough. They say only a few more hours and the monster will be completed. Made from the best metals, unbeatable, they say. We will see. When this is all over, I will finally see light again."

The human figured bowed, and the dream dissipated.

oOo

Jason woke up, fortunately not to an alarm. The steady roll and pitch of his room meant the Argo II was in motion. He got up from his bed and numbly brushed and took a quick shower, then headed upstairs.

"Captain," Leo said glumly as he reached the top deck. "Marathon Plains are 10 miles out. All landing procedures are ready," he sighed.

Obviously, Leo still was upset his prototype weapon had demolished an entire mortal fleet.

"Anyways," he said before Jason could say anything. "Malcolm tapped into the NATO database. Turns out the battleships were full battle operational, and hoping to bombard some hostile targets to provide support for a withdrawing battalion."

Jason gulped. "Were the ground troops OK?"

"Yeah. Anyways, to them, some Middle Eastern battle group just unleashed a massive explosive and destroyed their fleet. They've got the entire 4th and 5th US fleet and a lot of British ships mobilizing. We're going to have to be careful to avoid getting tangled with them again."

Jason nodded as a thin strip of land came into view. He remembered his dream. "Leo, make sure to be careful. In a dream, Arachne was talking about some sort of super weapon that would be unleashed against us."

Leo nodded, eyes glued to the horizon.

As it grew bigger, the rest of the 7 came upstairs. Nobody said a word. About 5 minutes later, a deep horn sounded. (**The Gondorian horn in Lord of the Rings) **People scrambled onboard the other ships and the fleet took up a pincer formation- the outside ships landed first to secure the flanks and allowed the center, where the main force was to dock. Although strong signatures of monsters were only detected several miles inland, it never hurt to be careful.

In the distance, with the shore growing all the nearer, the first boats docked and demigods jumped overboard. Everything seemed to be in order.

Just as the Argo II hit the turfs and Jason jumped onto the ground, suddenly the sand exploded all across the beach.

Jason yelled and covered his eyes and crushed rock flew everywhere. He instinctively pushed himself flat to the ground, and fortunately, made the right decision. Overhead, the whistling of an arrow sounded. People yelled in the distance as he jumped up. The beach was suddenly layered in defensive structures like barricades, barbed wire, caltrops and signs that said, "Hello! Prepare to die!"

"Forward!" Someone yelled and the demigods surged passed the defenses, over a small crest to find…. _oh gods, _Jason thought.

Less than half a mile away, a huge monster army was gathered. Mostly telkhines, they were dressed in an assortment of armor, from black obsidian sets to shiny steel ones to rags, moving in almost perfect sync. They screamed defiance at the demigods as everyone abruptly stopped at the crest of the small hill. But the thousand or so monsters weren't even the bad part.

Among them were 3 huge elephants, much bigger than normal. They were probably as tall as the church tower of Notre Dame. The elephants were painted red and orange, and Jason could see the battle designs even from the distance.

The monsters were steadily advancing, the elephants trumpeting and shaking their heads. "Form ranks! Legionaries with armor piercing pila in 3 ranks and Greeks on either flank!" Jason shouted and shot a couple feet into the air to survey the demigod situation.

Although some people seemed hesitant to follow Jason's orders, high-tech javelins were being retrieved and lines began forming as the artillery ships in the Greek navy began blasting enormous holes in the monster lines. 40 pegasus were airborne in seconds, all with either a son of Athena, Apollo or Hermes (they had deadly stink bombs).

Then Jason heard a blood-chilling horn sound (**I don't know how to describe it, it sounds like the Haradiam horn in Lord of the Rings).**

Jason could feel the terrifying sound strike terror deep into the hearts of the demigods as the monsters' roars increased and the elephants trumpeted even louder. Now that they were close, Jason could see that each of the 3 elephants had a multi-layered platform on their back, with wooden railings. On the platform were more monster archers dressed in shiny white armor and logos that said, "One for the monsters!"

"Sound the advance!" Jason shouted. "Charge!"

Another sharper, slightly higher horn (**Elven horn)** sounded across the beach and the demigods yelled and charged forwards, Jason at the head.

Then the two sides collided, and everything disintegrated into chaos.

**And don't worry, in the future, everything will be Greek mythology or something similar. I haven't had time lately so this is the best I could do, sorry.**

**oO shoutout to anybody that can tell me what the elephants are called (directly from Lord of the Rings).**

**Quote of the chapter- Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?… He`s a mile away and you've got his shoes!**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring**

**Song of the chapter- Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys**

**xXx**


	31. Hazel XXXI

**I'm disappointed in you people…. Sam calls them oliphaunts, but Men and Elves call them "Mûmakil." The completely badass Haradrim war elephants. **

**Some guy said I copied his story (he was a guest). And that, my friends, is how to fail at hating.**

**Anyways, I'm sorry for not updating in a loong time. I'm busy with prep for State exams, my Hates story, Circle rewrite, and generally life in general. I don't know if I should continue this. I love all of you for your reviews, but I'm just losing inspiration. Any idea is greatly appreciated!**

**XXXI**

**Hazel**

Hazel knew she was screwed when one of the elephants came straight at her. As she maneuvered her way through the chaos, hacking down telkhines left, right and above (some of them were being chucked into the air by pegasi), one of the 3 elephants looked Hazel in the eye.

She could've sworn it said, _I'm coming for you, girl._ The other 2 were running amok throughout demigod lines, throwing them up left and right.

"Oh gods," Hazel muttered and turned around and ran as the elephant began bowling towards her. She snuck a glance back to see a brilliant green flare shoot up towards it and explode across its flank.

The elephant trumpeted and stumbled, but continued on. Hazel tried to dive for the cover of a boat, but suddenly she felt crushed and weightless. She realized the elephant had wrapped its gigantic trunk around her. She yelped and stabbed at it, and even though it sank hilt deep, the elephant didn't seemed fazed. Instead, it threw Hazel onto the back of the elephant.

She landed right in the middle of several monsters, which snarled at her and drew swords. Fortunately, they still had huge bows out and stumbled trying to get their blades.

Hazel took the opportunity. With a cry, she slashed the first one into dust and kicked the second one in front of her down into the midst below. A growl came from behind, and she hacked blindly as a telkhine raised a sword. The blade clattered to the elephant's back.

Knowing she couldn't take all these archers, she looked for something to help her, and saw a rope attached to the platform. Impulsively, she reached over the railing and hacked it apart as an arrow whistled by her ear. The entire platform groaned, and several monsters growled uncertainly.

Hazel heard ropes snap, and the archer hole began leaning to the side, as well as the elephant. Thinking quickly, she jumped forward onto the head of the massive animal as the archers fell into the chaos below, splattering several dozen monsters in a phalanx. "Sorry," she said to the elephant.

Hazel took out her spatha, and steadied herself as she drove it hilt deep right into where the brain should be.

The elephant trumpeted, then its front knees buckled, and Hazel jumped off of the head as the front hit the ground and rolled over. "One down…" She looked up and saw the other 2 elephants down, "zero to go."

Without their mascot of battle, the monsters quickly lost morale and began breaking and routing back to their camp as demigods began cheering. Hazel heard Jason shouting down the line as he flew overhead, "Count the causalities and keep alert!"

That night was a fairly good mood. 6 demigods were wounded, 2 severally, and nobody had died.

The Athena cabin and leaders formed plans to search for the second piece as the campers partied in victory.

Hazel went to bed, and for once, had no nightmares about Gaea and her past.

The next morning, no monsters came to challenge them. The camp was entirely gone, and teams of metal detectors began scouring the large grassland for any sign of the bow. Jason had asked if Hazel knew anything, but the entire area was littered with too many metal weapons, both mortal and godly, to pick up any unnaturally powerful trace.

The day went by quickly as scouts looked around for demonic activity and teams uncovered a bunch of old weapons, but nothing that looked like a part of a bow.

By afternoon, Hazel's ADHD was in full drive and she was ready to nuke this mound of trees and shrubbery.

She would've bet that Gaea was purposely messing with them.

Around evening, this started heating up. A scout flew back on a pegasus towards where Jason, Hazel, Piper, Frank, Reyna (who looked bored, for once) and Nico were camped, crossing out searched areas. "An army!" Connor shouted. "Approaching fast!"

Jason was up instantly, blowing his horn.

Just as the last stragglers trickled in, the black smudge on the distance really began to enlarge, and the chanting of monsters became deafening within minutes. "Form ranks! Hoplites in the center, legionaries on the flanks!"

"Stoll, how many?" Jason asked as demigods rushed to cover as much of the plains as possible.

"At least 1500," Connor shook his head.

Everyone in the command tent, including Hazel dropped their jaws.

Reyna hissed angrily. "They outnumber us 5 to 1!"

"We need to fall back to the ships, Jason," Malcolm suggested. "Our weapons are in range."

Jason shook his head. "No. Funnel them towards the center in a V-formation, and surround and conquer."

Malcolm stamped his foot impatiently. "It's a big risk, Jason. The front line has to be able to hold long enough to have the entire army locked in order for the flanks to swing around."

"Do anything you can to hold the line- traps, archers, anything."

"All right," Malcolm said and left.

Reyna didn't look too sure either that this plan would work. "Are you sure this will come through, Jason?" She asked.

"It's our best shot."

Although Hazel had doubts of her own, and from her friends' faces, they also did, she didn't know much about tactics and decided Jason would be our best bet. _I wish Annabeth were here, _Hazel thought numbly. Why was it that most of their problems would have been easily solved if the 2 weren't down in Tartarus?

Just as Jason prepared to leave, Connor said, "Yo Jason, something else. A mile behind the army, there's a huge container I couldn't see through. But there was a monsters sitting on a platform in front of it, and he had the piece in his hands."

"They already found it?" Jason swore.

"Dude, if you like, we can peel off some soldiers from the main line and try and take it."

Jason thought for a moment. Then he looked at Hazel. "Hazel, Leo, Frank and Piper will mount pegasus and try and snatch the piece, OK? I'll stay here to rally the troops."

Hazel nodded. A part, finally.

"All right, everybody. You know what to do. Adjourned," and the leaders left.

xXx

"Ready?" Leo asked her as Hazel grabbed him tightly, hoping he could fly a pegasus.

"Can you fly?" She asked.

"Uh…. A little. Just hold on tight, 'k?" He said with a crooked smile and lightly brushed his against her forehead. Hazel thought she saw Frank scowl in their direction.

"Frank ready?" Leo called. He nodded, his sour expression gone. "Let's get this party started!" Leo shouted and flicked the reins of his pegasus. The horse whinnied in excitement and took off into the air, just as sounds of metal smashing against metal sounded a bit in the front as the vanguard of the monsters hit the demigods.

Hazel grabbed tightly as the pegasus ascended steeply. As he (it looked like a he), Hazel felt the familiar thrill of being free on a horse again.

"This feels so much like-"Hazel started.

"-Like Sammy and you riding?" Leo asked.

She smiled. "Yeah."

They rode in silence as the battle below them faded into the distance and something else appeared. Connor was right. The thing looked like a gigantic cardboard box. Hazel didn't want to think what was under it.

Leo dived, Frank and Piper right on his tail. Sure enough, at the bottom of the box, a very well armored monster was sitting on a wheelchair, and it held something slightly shiny, like a piece of metal that had lost its gleam over the years. It probably was that.

Now that Hazel could see it, she could feel power radiating from it.

"Stick it and I'll grab the piece!" Hazel shouted at Leo over the wind.

He grinned back at her in response and grabbed a huge lance on the pegasus's side and held it, ready to impale the monster.

The poor thing didn't even see him coming. The Celestial Bronze tip smashed through his shiny armor and he disintegrated. Hazel leaned over the side and quickly grabbed the falling piece of metal and the Pegasus shot back into the sky as the monster's guards shouted and nocked arrows.

As Leo took maneuvers to avoid flying sharp objects, Hazel quickly looked at their prize. It looked a lot like the first piece, slightly bent and dull.

"We got it," Hazel shouted.

Then a massive sound came up from behind her, and Hazel looked back to see what it was.

_Oh gods, _She thought.

**Quote of the chapter- Everyone had photographic memory. Not everybody has film.**

**Song of the chapter- Tiptoe by Imagine Dragons**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Guild Wars 2 **

**xXx**


	32. Leo XXXII

**I'm starting to doubt whether I should continue this anymore…**

Important news regarding this story: It's going to be cut short anywhere from 10 to 30 chapters. I just don't have the time to write alot anymore. Updates will be at least 2 weeks apart from now on... and no, the chapter lenght is not doubling. Bear with me, ok? CHeck out my other Hates story (which I use to blow off steam) and my cute little Percabeth drabbles. I also have a new poll: Should I write Book 5 Fanfic or not? Go vote!

**XXXII**

**Leo**

As soon as Leo saw what was underneath the box, he knew that he was screwed.

Since when did telkhines play video games?

Underneath the box was a gigantic purple squid thing that would've looked pretty cool if it wasn't trying to kill Leo.

It emitted a sound that sounded like a cross between a groan, static, and a monster. Leo's eyes widened as a small area near it's legs opened up to reveal a massive gun, and he barely had time to swerve to the side as something shot from the barrel and hit the ground, carving a trench at least 5 feet deep and 10 feet long.

Long story short, the telkhines in Jason's dream had created a freaking Reaper.

The thing roared again, and took a step forward with one of five massive legs and shot another projectile towards Frank and Piper's pegasus, who dived steeply to avoid the shell. This time, it flew far away into the battle on the other side, lighting up like a firework.

"Hazel!" Leo shouted. "We have to get out of here!"

She looked at him like he'd just dropped out of Mars. "Of course we do!" She screamed back over the wind and angry Reaper noises.

Leo directed the pegasus to put on a burst of speed back towards the main battle.

"Jason!" He shouted as the Son of Zeus came into close view. Jason looked up from the monster he just killed and waved.

The situation was looking good so far. The demigods had the monsters all but surrounded, but the Reaper was approaching in the distance, and then things would get crazy.

Leo quickly told Jason the situation. He nodded. "Keep it distracted," he said, "while we finish up these monsters. Then we can find a way to wipe out the Reaper."

Leo took off, dropping off Hazel on the ground. "Let's play," He whispered wickedly and lit his free hand on fire.

xXx

Startling discovery- Reapers are not very easy to kill.

Everything started out more or less alright.

Leo began doing circles around the large and strong, but slow and cumbersome synthetic creature and throwing fireballs into chinks in its armor.

The thing LOOKED like it was weakening, groaning and falling onto its knees. But in reality, it was just a malfunction in the machine.

About 5 minutes later, Leo, focused on chucking a fireball into the monster's eye, didn't see the other pegasus on an intercept trajectory heading towards Leo's own.

His eyes swiveled back to the front just in time to see a mass of white slam him in the face.

Leo yelped as his pegasus whined and lost control, flapping wildly.

He hit the ground hard, horse over horse over demigod. "Uhh," Leo groaned as the 2 pegasi stood up and tramped around.

"Sorry man," some guy from behind him muttered. It was Frank. Leo would've said something snarky, but just then the Reaper zoned in on them again. "Damn."

Leo dived as another blast created a new trench where he had been standing half a second ago. Leo jumped onto his pegasus and yelled, "Go go go!"

Fortunately, his mount understood the situation and quickly took off into the air as the Reaper fired again.

Leo knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer. Although he was slowing it down, the creature was almost within range of the demigods, who were still reorganizing.

Just as he thought that, the demigod horn sounded and Leo relaxed a bit. "Reorganize the line! Reorganize the line!" Leo heard Jason shout. "Take them head on! Charge!"

The good thing about battling a massive and bulky thing is that it gets swarmed easily.

The Reaper growled and leaned low, but before it could obliterate half the entire force, something green-Greek Fire- shot up and hit the eye of the thing, and it stumbled backwards as it got blasted with ballista from the ships.

It make that weird noise again and opened its gun, shooting blindly, the explosion maybe half a mile from the nearest demigod.

Leo chucked another fireball into its mouth.

Instead of just groaning like normal, the thing buzzed and actually collapsed, though it quickly picked itself back up.

_The gun, _Leo thought. _That's its weak point._

More Greek Fire exploded across its skin.

Leo quickly flew over to Jason and shouted, "Aim for its mouth!" before he had to shoot up again to dodge a bullet.

Fortunately, Jason got the memo and the next time the monster opened its mouth, it got a nasty mouthful of green flames and sharp objects, sending red sparks traveling up its body.

The thing was hurt, but Leo knew without a godly tool, it would just keep on going.

The bow.

He took the piece strapped to the pegasus, and looked at the Reaper, then gulped. Leo knew he only had one shot at this. If he failed, he could possibly destroy most of Greece and kill all of his friends.

But he was tired of being the odd one out. He wanted to show Nemesis and his friends he wasn't completely useless.

_Come at me, bro, _Leo thought and for a second, he was certain the Reaper looked him dead in the eye and retorted, _Hell yeah I will._

It started moving towards him, shooting at the puny demigods (and missing) below, but definitely coming after Leo.

Gulping, he quickly shot up into the air and patted his horse. "Let's do this, girl."

At least, Leo hoped it was a girl.

He dived low, and just as the Reaper opened its mouth and aimed his gun upwards, sending a line of lasers (Leo later discovered it was actually superheated uranium depleted and enriched tungsten) skywards like an anti-aircraft gun, Leo focused hard and shot a white hot flame into the Reaper. It groaned and staggered backwards, collapsing as black spots danced across Leo's eyes.

He directed his pegasus and flew straight down towards the open mouth of the 160m tall monster, and just has he heard someone shout his name, prayed to all the gods and threw the dull bent piece of immense power into the mouth as another line of molten metal shot out of it, narrowly missing his pegasus's wing.

Leo wasn't really sure what happened after that. An explosion, then he was on the ground with a heavy weight over him. There was so much smoke. And then he blacked out.

**Sorry this chapter was short guys!**

**Anyone tell me what game the Reaper is from?**

**Quote of the chapter-****Doctors say I have multiple personalities. We disagree with that.**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring**

**Song of the chapter- Round and Round by Imagine Dragons**


	33. Boston

Not a chapter.

You may of heard of the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, with at least 3 confirmed dead and 100 confirmed injuries. Although nobody I knew was injured, I had a friend who heard the explosion right next door- and one of his windows shattered.

My heart goes out to those who were injured and killed in the bombings, and I hope all of them make it. This was obviously an terror attack. But please, just stay strong and pray to find the people who did this.

"United We Stand, Divided We Fall."

On a happier note, expect an update to this story by Saturday. (Why were there no reviews last chapter- at all? It was that bad, huh? :/)

xXx


	34. Nico XXXIII

**Again guys, bad case of Writer's Block and obsession with ME3: Citadel, so sorry for the horrible few chapters.**

**XXXIII**

**Nico**

Nico wished that he wasn't so close to the Reaper. As Leo suicidally dived and chucked the thing towards the mouth of the thing, it exploded and everything within a 250 foot radius (which unfortunately, included Nico) was flattened.

Nico didn't even have to time to block the dust from entering his eyes as he blacked out.

Sometime later, he woke up to stinging eyes, throbbing headache, and a very painful body all around. The dust was still thick in the air, which meant that Nico wasn't out for very long.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and quickly checked himself- a few cuts, headache, dust in his eyes, but nothing life threatening. Nico found he could stand up without much difficulty, and did so.

Everything was eerily quiet, except for a little groaning and shuffling around. There was no sign of the purple squid thing. Nico coughed a little and stumbled forward a little, and the dust began to disappear. A few more steps and he could see clearly, more or less.

A gigantic cloud of dirt was surrounded something big and unmoving, which Nico hoped was the squid. There were a few people that could be seen running towards them about half a mile away near the ships, but mostly Nico was on his own.

Then someone from behind him coughed and appeared from the heavy dust in the air. It was Jason, looking like a cat had just used him as a scratching post.

"Hey," he rasped and Nico opened my mouth to reply, but instead felt a choking feeling and coughed out some dust.

"What…. What happened?" Nico asked once he cleared his throat.

Jason shrugged, quite a bit of dust tumbling off him in the process.

"Leo chucks stick into that video game thingy. Monster goes boom. A lot of smoke," Jason said bluntly and Nico snorted.

"Thanks. Never would've known," Nico muttered sarcastically.

He started trudging around the now-starting-to-clear pile of dust and smoke and came upon a lot of debris.

"Wow," Nico said and picking up the Hercules Bow at his feet, began walking through the Reaper remains. He found many very useful tools, including sweet guns, celestial bronze parts that could be used to repair, and a curious ball about the size of a kickball.

The metal ball looked like a basketball Transformer with many cuts in it, and it glowed slightly blue. When Nico tried to touch it, he felt a clear wall around it. Curious, he kicked the possible force field.

Result: A very hurt foot.

"Damn you," Nico said and without thinking, stabbed the thing the piece of the bow.

What happened next Nico took full blame for. Even though He wasn't really sure what happened at all.

But after a very loud explosion, next thing Nico knew, he was on the ground with his ears ringing, blinking black spots out of his eyes and a very bad headache.

He sat up woozily and blinked, gaining his bearings. That ugly chunk of metal that had done all of this sat untouched about 20 feet in front of Nico, and the bow thing was lying next to him, smoking but undamaged.

Nico stood up slowly and grabbed the stick, walking over to the shield again. He probed to feel where the barrier was, and when the Hercules bow touched it, he stumbled back several feet from the piece shooting backwards. And in doing so, he found a still figure behind it with a familiar face.

"Shit," Nico swore. He dashed to Leo, who was unconscious with a short, but deep cut all the way through his arm and bleeding profusely. Nico tried to think about first aid Camp Half Blood had given him. He quickly ripped off a bit of his shirt sleeve and pressed down hard on the injury, and did the same to the other side.

Leo stirred slightly.

A few moments later, one of the medics from Apollo came and took over and Nico began walking around aimlessly, without much to do. Then he remembered the small stick of metal in his hand. There was no note attached, at least not now.

Nico silently cursed Leo for doing something so stupid. Now, they could be stuck here forever. He considered going back to the demigod and demanding answers when the piece shined slightly.

Anyways, Nico was r-

Wait, he thought. This piece of metal is thousands of years old. How could it possibly be still shiny?

That's when he realized the markings etched onto the piece, very recently, anyone could tell as the lines were sharp and clear against the sun. It was a very short note, and the ancient Greek read:

_No time. Go to the tip of Africa, on the ruins where the world's greatest city, greater than Athens and Alexandria, stood before- _

And the rest was unreadable, smudged beyond recognition.

xXx

"I have an idea," Jason said nervously, tapping his fingers on the table. "But I don't like it. They say that city is cursed after what Rome did to it. Most would refuse to go to arguably the most dangerous place in the world for modern Romans."

He voiced his idea.

Immediately, the Roman leaders began shouting, while the Greeks just nodded their heads.

Octavian (who Reyna insisted on keeping for traditional augur purposes, despite his cohort's dishonor) pushed forward and screeched to the Roman centurions, "You see! The Greeks and their indoctrinated leader wish to lead us to our deaths!" He shouted and turned to Jason. "You of all people know what happened there. After all, your dead relative, Scipio caused it! The name itself is tabooed!"

A few Romans mumbled angrily in agreement. Reyna stepped forward slightly.

"Wait!" Jason shouted. "If you refused to go there, you can stay offshore and let the Greeks, who have nothing against the city go on."

Once again, Octavian scoffed. "Ha! And you wish to let those Greek scum-" Cue a lot of angry protests, "-steal what is rightfully a ROMAN spotlight?"

Jason attempted to growl angrily, but in his nervousness, failed. To the point where Nico had to stifle a laugh.

"Hear!" Octavian shouted. "Listen up, Greeks. WE are taking control of the fleet, and from now on, WE decide where to go! And WE want to go home!" His voice wasn't very moving, but it got the Romans riled up, who drew their swords and stepped forward, pushing a distraught looking Reyna with them.

Nico took out his own Stygian Iron sword and pointed it at the angry Romans. "This is mutiny," he growled.

Octavian's smile twisted into a cruel sneer. "And YOU, son of Pluto, and your Greek friends are no longer in control. The Romans are the rulers here, now."

Nico had a cruel retort ready to shoot back, but suddenly his vision blurred and his ears buzzed slightly. He had a sense of Déjà vu when he had felt his sister, Bianca die. He quickly looked around the meeting. Nobody was on the floor, bleeding.

Which meant either Percy or Annabeth had just died.

**Quote of the chapter- **_**Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures'**__?"_

**Song of the chapter- Dead Man Walking by The Script. I got addicted to Script around the time the Jason chapter was posted**

**Entertainment of the chapter- Arma III. I just want it to stop crashing whenever I try to join a server.**


	35. Update (and FML)

A delay... yet again. My brother decided to download a crack version of Far Cry 3, which just so happened to have a virus. Fortunately, there was no important information on the PC (solely for gaming and my documents), but I forgot to put my recent chapters on SkyDrive and EVERYTHING WAS DELETED. That included 2 6k words chapters (they were for ME/Halo, not Percy Jackson*) D:. Anyways, I'm busy trying to kill the virus (thank the library computer for letting me type this), and then I have to rewrite the lost chapters.

Anyway, the poll on my profile is really important for the future of my works, so go check it out.

With luck, I'll have a 3-5 thousand word chapter by the end of May. I'm trippling the pace of my story if I want to finish it on time. Things are being bunched up, other parts are being cut.

*After reading some works by much older fanfic authors, I've got an idea on how to write much longer chapters.

Oh and wow, I've been so busy I didn't realize we broke the 800 mark. Thanks guys!


	36. Percy XXXIV

**PLEASE TELL ME: DO YOU WANT BOOK 5 FANFICTION?**

**XXXIV**

**Percy**

Percy was getting _really _tired of gods stabbing his girlfriend. Of course, Annabeth had been in this situation all to many times, and she easily dodged by holding up her sword and letting the momentum of the swing push her flat on the ground.

Maybe it wasn't the most comfortable landing, but it was better than getting impaled, right? Seeing the chance, Annabeth yelled, "Hey, I didn't know you were stupider than Krios!" Percy took the chance when he stepped forward to growl to run up behind Hyperion, kick off his leg, yell an insult, and swing Riptide downwards, using gravity (which existed in Tartarus) to drive the blade deep into Hyperion's neck.

Or so Percy thought. Apparently, either he had become obscenely weak in this hellhole, or Titan armor was overpowered. Instead of almost decapitating the beast, it sunk slightly into the armor, and penetrated half an inch into Hyperion's skin. Percy kicked back off the monster to avoid a flaming hand trying to grab him.

"Come on, you drool bucket," Percy taunted as Hyperion grabbed Riptide and crushed it. That didn't bother Percy, because as long as it wasn't clean cut into 2 pieces, it would appear back in his pocket in perfect shape.

The man-bull-titan snorted in annoyance—not even looking at Percy. Instead, Annabeth barely dodged a sword and put another arrow into the beast. Percy found that to be insulting.

He felt his pocket and took out Riptide, gripping it tightly. Hyperion only had 2 weaknesses—it's face and it's side. It was wearing a much older version of Greek armor, where on either side, the breastplate and backplate were tightened around the wearer with strings. That meant that not only did the sides lack protection, cutting the taut rope would be a huge pain in the neck to Hyperion. The only problem was that Hyperion was actually intelligent and did a good job of blocking those weaknesses with his buff arms. And Annabeth was already putting arrow after arrow into the Titan's face (which melted from the head not long after embedding themselves). Percy looked around.

It was a flat wasteland without any large boulders or cliffs to jump from. Percy sighed. He muttered, "Come at me, you ugly-" followed by a string of colorful language. . Then he charged—more subtly this time.

Hyperion didn't even notice him, which was both insulting and beneficial. When he raised his right arm for a swing at Annabeth (you'd think he realize by now that slow, powerful attacks won't connect with a nimble target), Percy quickly thrust in and out. He was surprised at how tough the skin was, though it certainly didn't offer much resistance to a sharp blade.

Hyperion stumbled sideways from the shock of the sudden attack and roared. "Puny mortal, I will kill you and then play Halo on your dead body!" He bellowed.

In response, an arrow shot into his eye, which caused another upset roar before falling to the ground in ashes and molten bronze.

Percy quickly sneaked a glance at Ixion, who was sitting on a small rock, whistling and not giving a care in the world. If he was going to babysit Percy, shouldn't he _at least _help him kill immortal titans? Still, he was feeling confident about his and Annabeth's chances.

Of course, that's how he jinxed it. He heard a familiar, but unplacable sound behind him. "What…?" Percy wondered out loud, standing there dumbly as Hyperion was shot yet again.

It was only his instinct that told him to duck before an arrow shot overhead, missing by a centimeter. The force ruffled his hair. Fortunately, it still missed him. Unfortunately, it flew into the next target ahead of him—Annabeth. Even though it was only a glancing blow, the shock of getting a cut out of nowhere made her stumbled back and grab her arm in shock.

Before Percy would react, Hyperion took the chance and kicked Annabeth to the ground, who screamed bloody murder at the Titan, mixed in with groans of pain. "Still so sneaky on the ground, girl?" He asked. Percy snapped out of his trance and sprinted forward. Ignoring another arrow whizzing past him, Percy spun and thrust his sword into the side of Hyperion, this time with a lot more force. It seemed Hyperion was worn down quite a bit, because instead of attacking them again, he groaned and stumbled away from Percy's vicinity before disappearing. His look said, _this isn't over._

Percy barely got to smile before he was pushed forwards by a force behind him. He looked down at Annabeth, who was staring at him in shock. "What...?" he said before Annabeth's hand shot out and pulled his leg, making him fall to the ground. Percy's back spiked in pain, and he almost blacked out as another arrow soared overhead. Damn. He's been shot.

Upon that discovery, everything seemed to fade a little, and he saw Annabeth shoot an arrow before leaning over him and trying to get him to focus. He couldn't make anything out. Before he blacked out, he saw something nail Annabeth to the ground as well. Then all went black.

xXx

The telkhine snarled at him. "WHERE ARE THEY?" He roared, kicking Percy's stomach and making him groan in pain. "They're… They're gone," he managed to say before coughing, trying to keep up the act of being weak and useless. He almost felt bad for his soon to be dead interrogator. All the poor thing wanted was a Twinkie. Gaea must have been getting desperate in some way to be recruiting monsters with that level of loyalty. Hopefully, his friends above were killing a fair many of them.

Percy waited for his chance. He has secretly undone his bonds—easily untying the over-tightened rope cuffs. When the telkhine turned around, muttering to himself about the lack of Twinkies, Percy quickly stood up and grabbed the monster's neck, twisting it with a sickening _crack!_ The sound nauseated him.

Taking Riptide out, Percy stepped outside the small 12 feet square cell, the door still unlocked. Or at least, he tried to. Instead, his back arched in pain again and Percy hissed. He couldn't feel an arrow shaft, but the telkhine obviously neglected to treat his wound. After twisting a few muscles, Percy diagnosed his left arm as inoperable and his running speed very restricted. Fortunately, he was right handed. Unfortunately, there was a shield on the telkhine's back, which Percy sadly could not take advantage of.

Percy quickly made a tourniquet with some spare cloth in his backpack, which was right outside the door. He grimly noted the orange color—it probably was the Camp Half Blood shirt he wore before Ixion had given them new, plain white ones.

Percy wondered where he was. Stepping outside and slinging the pack over his shoulder, Percy heard a loud _clang _to the corridor down his left. Although the plain stone hallway was well lit, Percy couldn't tell what it was. He set off in that direction in a fast walk. On the way, he quickly disintegrated an unlucky dracaena who had her back turned to him.

Although Percy knew it wasn't very far, between his arrow wound and his exhaustion, it seemed like a light year. After a few minutes, or what seemed like a few minutes of walking, he found scattered bits of monster dust outside another cell. That meant Annabeth had been here recently. He kept walking along. Percy really didn't understand the logic behind an extremely long cave with a couple of cells. He guessed Tartarus wasn't big on fashion.

After another eternity, Percy finally saw some change. Ignoring the pain in his back, he stepped down a few stairs and came upon a cave, similar to the one Polyphemus lived in when he was in the Sea of Monsters. Fortunately, the Cyclops himself was nowhere to be found. He DID, however, find Annabeth sitting by the cave entrance, looking outside.

Percy limped over to her and teased, "Not even a welcome kiss?"

No response.

"Come on, Annabeth. Don't give me that."

Nothing.

Percy frowned. "Annabeth?" Confused, he lightly touched her skin, and then drew away in shock. "What….?" He muttered.

Although the not-so-Annabeth still hadn't moved, the place that Percy had touched was black… and crumbling. Great. Percy immediately realized it was just Tartarus messing with his mind again and kicked the illusion to dust. Then he blinked harshly twice. Although Tartarus had fun trolling Percy and Annabeth, he never kept an illusion for more than a minute.

Percy stood up and this time saw Annabeth—for real, just coming out of the long corridor he was recently in. He waved to her, but frowned. Her eyes were darker than usual, and she seemed dizzy and uncertain. "Annabeth?" He asked cautiously. He walked up to her and grabbed her arms. "Hello?"

She responded by collapsing. "Jesus," she moaned. "I swear, getting thrown around like that hurts like a bitch."

Percy laughed slightly, this was her alright.

"C'mon, let's ge-"

"Now, now," A deep voice said. "I have some… unfinished business with the girl. "Percy spun around and the 2 demigods drew their weapons. Hyperion—the weak version Percy had faced in the Titan War—was leaning against the door casually, a non-lit cigar in his hands. He wore a suit, and he looked just like an '80s businessman. However, the image was ruined by his fire-colored eyes and evil smirk.

As soon as Percy registered that, he disappeared and appeared next to Percy and grabbed his sword arm tightly. Hyperion looked him dangerously in the eye. "Boy, if it wasn't for the Ancient Laws, you would be dead right now. Tartarus is a dangerous place, one that will scar you permanently, should you leave here alive." Then, to Percy's shock, he let go and waved dismissively at him.

"Wait… you're letting us go?" He incredulously asked.

"Don't push it, boy. All I can tell you is that the situation with Gaea is… messy. Things are in turmoil, and you had best take this chance to get out. I've left a pack of supplies outside. Put them to good use." Then the air around him distorted, and the Titan of Light was gone.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, then Annabeth carefully said, "Did he… just… let us go AND help us?"

"I think so…"

As they walked, Percy wondered about what Hyperion had said. Something about how Gaea was in a turmoil state? Maybe there was some sort of rebellion going on? Either way, Percy was eager to listen to Hyperion and get out of this hellhole. The thought of getting out served as a motivator, and he could feel the evil of the Doors of Death getting larger with every step.

And then they crossed over a hill. "Jesus Christ," Percy muttered as he took in the spectacle.

Hyperion was right. Underneath them was a massive army. Except it wasn't marching in cohesion. It was at war with itself. Telkhines were attacking dracaena, Cyclops were wrestling hyperboreans, and it was total anarchy. The numbers must have been in the thousand, and it was as if every human on Earth was firing a rocket launcher right next to their ears.

"What is this?" Percy asked to no one in particular.

"This, Perseus, is why I neglected to fight this war." A young woman stood behind Percy as he turned around. Annabeth frowned. "You look familiar… who are you?"

The mysterious, dark woman smiled. "Names are dangerous. You two of all people should know that."

"Things can't get any worse than they already are, can't they?" Percy challenged. He was getting really pissed at any Greek immortal.

The woman chuckled and waved over the anarchy below. "Do you think so? Jackson, Gaea's predicament is worse than it been since she was created. She is legitimately _worried _that she might not be able to pull her plan off."

"What's happening?" Annabeth asked.

"Look at the situation below. Her forces are in completely disarray after that stunt you two pulled with Arachne and the twin giants. You have destroyed the object that keeps order within her ranks. She herself requires the sacrifices to wake enough to restore her authority. Gaea grows desperate," The cloaked female mulled.

"You still haven't told us who you are."

"If you are that insistent…" The woman threw off her cloak covering her head and revealed a beautiful young woman with black hair and completely black eyes, but her skin was pale.

"You know me as Rhea. Ex-Wife to Kronos."

**Terrible ending, I know. Also, I said wanted to make this over 3000 words… but… oh well. The next chapter will have 5,000 words :D Which will be around late May to early June. Another Hates will be up around that same time too. Circle of Life is still on unknown hiatus. **

**Anyways, the poll on my profile. It decides the future of me. Go vote.**

**Guys, so I replayed the entire ME trilogy, and then listened to the SOTC. My heart shattered and I think a tear escaped me. o7 Shepard. You will be remembered. I feel so depressed that we'll never see him again… **

**QOTC- Derp**

**SOTC-The End of An Era- Cris Velasco**

**EOTC-Halo: CE**


	37. Jason XXXV

**XXXV**

**Jason**

Octavian looked at Jason. "You can either help take command, or you can join the rest of your Greek friends in the ocean."

Jason struggled to keep an impassive face as he said, "I'll join you, but on the condition that the Greeks stay onboard."

Octavian thought for a moment, his tiny brain attempting to pick up any tricks as Piper, Leo and Nico didn't move. Fortunately, they seemed to understand what Jason was getting to. He nodded slightly at them as Octavian muttered a few words to a 2nd cohort centurion. Jason saw him wearing a little purple cloak- the color of the praetor. His eyes flared in anger briefly.

Reyna looked at him helplessly as he passed.

Someone grabbed Jason roughly by the arms and began taking him towards the Argo II, which was now covered with Roman SPQR symbols and being patrolled by guards.

On the deck, Octavian looked at him in the eye viciously. "Listen here, Grace," he snarled. "You will tell your ugly friends to enter their cabin- all of them. Then we will lock the doors and set the fleet back for New Rome."

Then, he leaned in, out of earshot of the nearby guards. "Be glad I'm doing this. If the others hadn't insisted on offering you another chance, you'd be missing a head by now."

Jason tried not to shiver as he hissed back, "Don't get to confident, Octavian."

He just smirked in reply and pushed him to the mic. Jason took a deep breath. "All Greeks, please leave your stations and enter your cabins. You will be notified of the situation soon," Jason strained to say as Leo and Piper were dragged onto the deck. They didn't see him on the deck. Nico was nowhere to be seen. A guard dragged Jason into a chair and tried to tied him to it.

Jason shook him off and said, "Get off of me." In response, the guard snarled and kicked Jason's stomach. As Jason's breath left him, he was grabbed again, and this time successfully strapped down. Then the guard left.

He thought of different ways to escape as the Romans prepared the fleet to set off. Nothing came to his head. Although Octavian was a vicious character, he didn't earn the position of Centurion for nothing. Jason knew he was a very good strategist. In fact, he probably wouldn't have won the Titan War if Octavian didn't his maneuver his cohort being the monsters that were demolishing the rest.

At some point, he fell asleep.

When he woke up again, nothing much had changed, except dusk had become dawn and the fleet was in the water. Judging from the sun, they were headed west, back towards America.

The weird thing was that there were no guards assigned to him. He easily slipped past his handcuffs (one tied to tight is easy to get out of) and stood up. No alarms went off. Jason was tempted to just shout, "YODALEYAHOOOOO!" And see who would respond.

He dismissed the idea.

Instead, he decided to find a weapon first. He went down the stairs quietly, to the second level. Again, nobody was in the corridors.

He passed the cabins- they were empty. Jason went down another flight of stairs. This time, he heard the slight crackle of radio. It was coming from the engine room. Quietly, Jason tiptoed to outside the slightly open door and peaked in.

Inside was a girl in full Roman _segmentata_ armor was holding a square box in one hand and a radio in the other. She was clearly a Roman.

The radio crackled, and Octavian's voice laced with static said, "The middle container contains the fuels and the syncopater. Put the C4 on that."

Instantly, Jason's blood went cold. They were going to try and blow up the ship. "Yes sir," the girl said and started mumbling to herself as she took out a pack of explosives out of the box and clicked a few buttons, the C4 arming and beeping. Jason tensed.

Just as the girl was about to set it onto the center container filled with all the flammable liquids, he made his move.

Jason stepped into the room and quickly crossed the distance, but not quickly enough. The Roman girl- Jason recognized her as Aria- heard his steps across the wooden floor and turned around quickly, eyes narrowing as she dropped the explosive and drew her sword.

"Jason Grace," she said in a monotone. In response, Jason reached for where he kept his sword- it was empty. He swore at himself and stepped back as Aria took a swing at him. From her movements and pose, Jason could tell she knew how to work a sword. Without his own weapon, he'd get skewered.

"Aria," Jason said and ducked down, missing a kick at her knees. "We're innocent! I can prove it!"

He stumbled back as Aria hissed, "Don't try to trick me! What do you even fight for, Jason?"

That confused him for a moment, and he barely dodged a swing at his throat, leaving a cut on his cheek.

"I fig-" He ducked. "I fight for my friends and family!" He grabbed the sword as Aria attempted to thrust at him, but she kicked his gut and made another cut on his arm.

"Really?" She said and kicked at Jason. "You don't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping New Rome safe." Jason growled in frustration, but small part of him said, _What if she's right? What if what you're doing only hurts your home?_ He had dragged a large portion of the Legio XII far away from home, leaving Camp Jupiter vulnerable and scared. Not to mention he sort of "aided" in blowing up parts of his hometown.

_No,_ he thought as he landed a punch on Aria's face. _If I don't succeed, there will be no Camp Jupiter._

They exchanged a few more blows, and Jason got more cut up. "Aria," Jason said. "If we don't succeed, there will be no Camp Jupiter to go back go." That wouldn't convince her, but it did have the effect Jason wanted.

She hesitated momentarily, but it was enough. Jason lunged forward and jabbed Aria's face twice before grabbing the sword hilt and twisting it, making Aria let go of it.

He could've stopped there. Knocked her unconscious. But he felt an anger within him, an irrational hatred. And without thinking, he looked at Aria as she attempted to regain her senses, before Jason's mind went blank and he stabbed the sword.

He heard a gasp, followed by a cough and something soft landed on his shoulder. He let go as he felt the sword and its target stumble forward before collapsing with a loud thud on the floor. Jason looked at his hands, which were now red.

Even has he registered what he had done, he knew he had ruptured a vital organ and that it was too late.

_You see,_ Gaea's voice hissed. _You are just a worthless traitor, stained by the blood of your own. _

He turned around quickly and saw Aria lying on the ground, face pale and the area that was her heart embedded by a _gladius. _She saw him, and looked him in the eye for one second weakly, and croaked, "Why?" Then her head rolled to her side in one last coughing fit of blood.

Jason grabbed the wall for support, nausea overcoming him. _Oh no, oh no, oh no,_ He repeated to himself. He had just killed a fellow Roman, and one he had known well, in cold blood. What kind of a person was he?

He stepped forward and tripped over Aria's corpse, landing facefirst. When his blurred vision cleared, he saw the C4 explosive in front of him.

He'd forgotten about that. All regret disappearing, he shot up, grabbed the explosive and ran to the upper deck. The ships around him didn't notice him. He was about to throw the explosive overboard, when his mind decided to interject. _What DO you fight for, Jason? _He tightened his fist. Wait. How could he tighten it with the bomb in his hand? He looked back to the stairwell—he had dropped it. It lay about 5 feet in front of him.

But before he could take another step towards it, he could swear he saw Octavian's face on the ship directly in front of him smrrking evilly as he took what looked like a pen and pressed it.

The C4 beeped one last time, and exploded.

xXx

That moment when you feel weightless and helpless and confused all at the same time. Jason flew overboard and landed headfirst into the water, the explosion still echoing in the background and vibrating through his ears.

For a few moments, his vision was blurred and he unconsciously took a breath, rewarding him with a lungful of water.

Realizing Jason was underwater for the first time, he quickly figured out which way he was sinking and kicked the other way, breaking the surface and gasping and coughing for air. He rubbed the water out of his eyes and came face to wood with the Argo II, which fortunately looked intact. Until Jason looked upwards, treading water.

A huge smoke cloud billowed from the deck, and the mast and railings were completely destroyed.

Jason looked around and saw Romans on other ships shouting and pointing at the Argo, as one of the small ones turned onto interception course towards it. Realizing that they planned to ram it from the iron spike on the front, Jason quickly grabbed the ladder, which was undamaged and quickly climbed up the deck and, ignoring all the debris and smoke in the air, ran to the bow of the Argo.

He wasn't sure if his 10 second plan would work, but it wasn't like he could steer the ship. Jason took a deep breath and concentrated. Fortunately, the dark clouds above seemed to stir, if only a bit. He focused harder, and was rewarded by a brief sound of thunder.

The collision was less than a minute.

_Hey, dad,_ Jason thought. _I know you're probably schizophrenic right now, but could you PLEASE help me? Just one lightning bolt?_

His head throbbed in pain, but Jupiter seemed to have heard his pleas. Another stroke of thunder, much louder this time, echoed through the air and a bolt of lightning struck the water, a mile off. 40 seconds…

Another bolt, hit closer, and Jason thought he could hear Jupiter grumbling about his terrible aim.

30 seconds.

A third lightning strike was closer yet, but it wasn't fast enough. It wasn't going to work. Jason decided to take matters into his own hands. He grabbed the nearest piece of metal he could find—part of the destroyed crow's nest—and held it upwards. It was hardly the largest and most significant conductor, but Jason was a son of the god of lightning, and he had some perks.

A lightning bolt soared down and made contact with the 2 foot long stick, making it spark and crackle. Jason, being a son of Jupiter, didn't feel a thing. He pointed it at the Roman ship, which was now less than 50 feet away and thought, _fly._

The redirected lightning instantly blew a huge crater into the hull, bypassing Leo's prototype kinetic barriers effortlessly, the high concentration of photons not having much mass.

Instantly, the trireme began to list dangerously to its side, as it gained water. It was now dead in the water, and more Roman ships nearby were beginning to respond.

Before he went any further, Jason had to figure out where his friends and the Greeks were held. It wasn't like he could search every single ship in the battle group. Fortunately, he didn't have to as on a ship next to the Argo, a few Romans shouted in surprise as Leo and Piper tackled the ones guarding the door to the ground and kicked them unconscious. Leo saw him and waved, grinning his troublemaker smile.

Jailbreak time?

The others burst out from the lower deck too—all of them except Nico, who Jason figured was doing his own thing.

Then Leo's smile faded as he saw the state of the Argo. He gave Jason a look furious look that said, _you better do some explaining later…_

For now, they had 4 cohorts of angry Romans ready to kill them. Currently, at least 40 of them were headed for Jason, the others close by. "Screw my life," Jason muttered.

No way he was going to take out a cohort's worth of soldiers. Jason almost wished that Percy would just pop out of nowhere and cause a typhoon or something.

Instead, Jason jumped off the Argo as boarding chains attached to hit and shot up a bit in the air. Within the minute, 40 fully armed legionaries had locked down the Argo II and created an effective anti-boarding shield by stacking their huge shields next to each other. They didn't seem to realize there were several loaded ballista next to them.

Jason thought it would be wise not to fly within _pila _range. He didn't really wish to get impaled with 30 soft-iron spearheads. Instead, he flew to the nearby trireme, where his friends were finishing off the guards, and landed on top of a legionary effectively rendering him combat ineffective. "Hey," Jason said nonchalantly, as if they were meeting for lunch.

Leo glared daggers are Jason and pointed to the Argo II shield wall. "What. Happened. To. My. Ship." He said icily. One thing Jason had learned: Don't mess with Leo's inventions. Or any Hephaestus kid's, for that matter.

Jason took a defensive look. "Hey, be glad that was it. They were planning to blow up the entire engine room!"

"I'm going to murder them all," Leo muttered.

"So, what do we do?" Piper interjected.

Jason thought for a moment. "First, we need to find the rest of Camp Half Blood. Any ideas where they are?"

"I actually saw them on the way up walking around in the mess hall, but there were at least 30 Romans there, and it didn't look like they would budge, from the defensive position they had taken around the closed door. I looked through the sides, by the way," Piper thought out loud.

"It won't be easy to beat them," added Leo.

Jason smiled. "Where do we begin?"

xXx

"2 at the door, shields up. 5 on the left, right and back wall. The rest are dispersed through the Greeks. They don't look too worried," Piper noted.

"They probably already have a plan. Help is always good, though." Jason took his position by the door with a small Greek Fire bomb from the armory and a sword and shield.

Piper pressed herself on the other side, and down the hall, Frank and Hazel winked green, read by blast a hole in the wall. Leo did the same. He was mostly to provide support, lacking proficiency in any melee weapon.

Jason held up an open hand and closed it as Leo, Jason and Frank stuck the explosives to the wall in front of them and duck-and-covered. A few seconds later, the entire ship was rocked sideways as 3 holes blew open. The 2 guards at the door were ready, however it was clear they weren't expecting breaches in the walls themselves.

And Jason was right. The Greeks DID have a plan. The moment the charges went off, he could hear several _cracks _and groans of pain breaking through the door. Jason stepped inside and decked the first Roman he could find, followed up by an uppercut to the jaw and a roundhouse kick. He felt someone behind me and instinctively ducked. A _gladius _soared overhead.

Using the Roman's momentum, Jason tackled backwards, and the Roman's footing was kicked out and he hit the deck face first. His tormentor struck the Roman's head just for good measure.

Around the room, chaos ensued as the Romans, caught by surprise, were brought into submission.

A few minutes of struggle later, the captors were unconscious or tied up, and the captives roamed around. Frank and Hazel were handing out swords from the armory and the Romans. "Guys!" Jason shouted. He quickly gave them a rundown of the situation, and warned them to be careful. They had escaped much too easily.

Jason walked upstairs, knowing someone was waiting for him. He was right. The moment he reached the top deck, he leaned back and dodged a sword. Jason grabbed the sword and swung it, carrying the swordsman with it. He fell to the ground, and Jason stepped on his face with a sickening crunch.

Someone else tried to swing at him, but a Greek behind Jason elbowed the Roman's face and decked him—HARD. Jason felt sorry for the guy.

He was pushed forward as a bunch of other angry people pushed through, and quickly beat the crap out of the outnumbered, out-positioned and generally surprised Romans. A few unlucky ones were kicked off the ship—literally, but most surrendered or had the lights kicked out of them.

Jason estimated at least 1 and a half cohorts worth of Roman legionaries were combat ineffective by now. The element of surprise sometimes is really magic. However, now Jason faced a bigger problem. The Argo II, the most powerful ship in the navy, was still under Roman control, and that ship could easily blast every other ship to pieces.

Most likely the only reason it hadn't opened fire, being only 100 yards away, was because of the prisoners onboard. Octavian wouldn't be too popular with the Senate back home if word reached them that he sacrificed 60 quality soldiers for some Greek scum. Jason considered ramming the Argo II, but Leo would be pissed beyond measure and people might get thrown overboard.

The anti-boarding shield wall was still up, which would make it a huge pain to assault the ship either way. The Romans would probably use deadly force, which could prove a liability to the Greeks.

"Ok," Jason muttered. "Now to just take over the rest of the fleet before we get blown to Kingdom Come. No stress, no stress at all."

Suddenly, the ship lurched to the left and Jason looked to the helm and saw Leo whopping like a madman. Then Jason saw the target—too late. "BRACE!" He roared and everybody, shocked by the sudden order grabbed the nearest object (which was the mast for Jason) as the trireme rammed a nearby ship with all primary, secondary and tertiary propulsion systems at overclock. Leo had positioned the ram so it didn't split the poor target in half, but it massacred the target's right set of oars.

Everybody was thrown forward before Leo yelled, "FOR BACON!" and leaped onto the ship, bowling into 5 people. Everybody else stood confused for each other, before gaining a maniac look in their eyes and repeating the Bacon cry and charging.

Pro tip: Don't get in the way of a Greek driven by a lust of bacon. The 5 or 6 Romans on the ship were subdued in literally a second as several people bowled into each of them. Then Jason heard a horn blow, and caught sight of a lot of movement in the other ships. _Seems like they're going to try and storm this ship… not very Roman…_ Jason thought. Although he didn't want to kill any Romans, he wasn't about to let them walk over him, either.

"Form up against the railing! Non lethal force, unless absolutely necessary!" Someone from Athena yelled, apparently sharing Jason's thoughts. The Greeks obliged, and in a few seconds, there was a phalanx running the length of the right side of the ship. A few other people in the back connected the trireme they were on to the one that they used to ram it. Very soon, 2 cohort's worth of soldiers were cramped on a single boat around 200 yards to the right of Jason's trireme. The Argo II was still far off somewhere to their left.

And true to Jason's thoughts, the trireme was headed onto intercept trajectory with the phalanx, who's young hoplites raised their shields and trimmed their line. Now, any Roman that wanted to board had to push past 3 ranks of unyielding shields, as well as archers pelting them with nonlethal arrows from the flanks. Meanwhile, they had to be careful not to fall into the ocean below. Hopefully, Jason thought, it would discourage some boarders.

"Brace!" Malcolm barked, taking his position as the hoplite commander in the front row on the very left. The phalanx tightened, and the 2 ranks behind prepared to shove their comrades in the front forward.

Jason again had to admire the cohesion of Greek phalanxes, yet they still had prowess in individual combat.

Seconds later, a storm of arrows soared towards Jason, who ducked behind a railing. They flew high up over Jason or bounced off of the Greeks' massive _hoplons_. Jason stood up and drew his _gladius_, having a quick flashback to those Lord of the Rings movies he had watched in "Camp Enrichment Activities." He could almost hear the theme playing as the 2 Polybian Cohorts neared closer… and closer… and closer… and BANG! The 2 ships rammed each other; however Leo had diverged the Greek trireme into a sharper and more dangerous angle than the Roman ones, and they took more damage. A second after that, hooks flew from the Roman ship, latching onto the hull of the Jason's trireme and legionaries secured the 2 ships.

"Ready!" Jason barked. On the other ship, he heard a centurion yell, "For the Senate! Kill those impunities! Every-" He never got to finish the sentence because at that moment, a ballista armed by an Apollo archer blasted a hole on the deck an inch to his right, sending him stumbling backwards. "One for the money!" He whooped and promptly ducked as 5 arrows soared past him before standing back up and going Leroy Jenkins on the poor, tightly clustered Romans.

"Hey!" Jason yelled at him. "Cut it down a bit, and please do _not _sink that ship!"

The Apollo guy looked disappointed, but nodded and drew his bow. Just as he did that, the first Romans jumped the ship, expecting to bowl into the thin line of Greeks. "Hold!" Malcolm barked as the phalanx stumbled back again from the sheer force of legionaries wearing 10 kilograms of armor smashing into them. Within moments, the battle had disintegrated into that similar to an _othismos,_ or pushing match. However, with the Greeks in a more locked position and with archers harassing the Roman flanks, the Roman left flank began to give way to the flanking right.

At least, that's what was happening until someone shot a Greek fire arrow into the Romans. Although it wasn't lethal, the Apollo archer had modified it with a shockwave point, the force literally flattening everyone—Greek and Roman. A few unlucky of the latter fell into the water.

For a few moments, everything was silent. Then some Ares hothead, who was the first to get back up, roared, "GET 'EM!" Apparently the Romans thought it was one of them, because both sides shot up and yelled either "_Senatus Populusque Romanus!" _or "BACOON!" and everything disintegrated into absolute anarchy.

With the Greek's phalanx and the Roman cohort formations both broken, the fight had become a general melee, both sides equally matched, but the Romans outnumbered 120-80. 120 being the entire force from Camp Half Blood. Jason didn't know what to do. He certainly wasn't going to try and stop it—it would just result in someone shooting him. Fortunately, he didn't have too. Jason nudged the archer next to him. The Apollo guy looked at him. "Yeah?"

Suddenly, Jason felt very awkward, but he forced it down and said, "I need you to shoot fart arrows at the Romans and stop them."

The Apollo guy shrugged. "Sure," and his high-tech quiver removed the blunt arrowheads and replaced the shaft heads with fart explosives.

Jason walked away. Ok… that was awkward. Jason decided to enter the brawl, just for something to do.

He jumped down onto the center (the 2 sides were raised slightly) and electrocuted his sword, which he directed at the nearest Roman girl. The modified Direct Energy Weapon hit her square in the chest and she screamed as electricity conducted along her armor, not even to kill her, but enough to paralyze her for a few minutes. Then Jason stepped past her guiltily and engaged a Roman who had just shoved a Demeter kid aside.

The blood lusted enemy swung his sword overhead with too much force, and Jason deflected it at an angle, then dove at the guy's feet, sending him crashing to the floor. Jason kicked the guy's head, just for good measure. When another Roman chucked his _pilum _at Jason, he just flew up and readied a low voltage strike, but instead, a fart arrow nailed the said Roman at his feet, and the poor legionary instantly collapsed from the stink and eye tearing. Within seconds, those Romans who had not been ganged up on and beat up were downed by fart arrows, and the Greeks cheered in victory.

"Remind me to apologize to the Romans I screwed," Jason said to Leo.

"Ok," Leo replied. "Jason, you need to apologize to the Romans you screwed."

"Later, I meant later," Jason face-palmed.

"Well, how would I know that?" Leo asked smartly. Jason sighed. "Just go awa-"

Suddenly, Jason hissed something rocked the ship and everyone was thrown backwards with several screams of shock. The entire ship creaked and groaned. Jason flew backwards and nailed his head on the wooden deck. "Ow," he muttered and pushed himself to his feet, just in time to see the specialized ramming point of the Argo II smash into the trireme and begin to tear it apart down the center.

Jason picked up his sword, and with a battle cry, ran for the Argo II and jumped onto it.

**I lied, it's not going to be 5000 words. But over 3500, I promise! Next chapter: Mid-Late June.**

*Now this is very important* **I'm not going to finish this story in time. It's that simple. I will write as much as I can, and then the day before HoH comes out, I will make one last chapter that explains what happens next. Now, there WILL be a Book 5 Fanfiction. But now I'm asking you, longer, less often chapters or shorter, more frequent chapter? The poll is on my profile. **

However, _for book 5, I will not have a time limit. _I will be taking my time on that book, and it WILL be continued when Book 5 comes out, unless something REALLY cliffy forces me to write something else.

I'm really sorry for breaking my promise that this book would be finished, but my life has changed dramatically.

**QOTC-I've got a problem for your solution.**

**SOTC-Hold Us by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore.**

**EOTC- Back to the Future**


	38. Jason XXXVI

**There's going to be a plot twist that basically skips 20 chapters in a few chapters time to help me wrap up the story in time.**

Ok, I'm royally confused. For some reason, this chapter never posted... no wonder I was thinking, "How come I didn't get a single form of feedback when I posted this chapter?" Anyways, extremely sorry for this messup. I=

**XXXVI**

**Jason**

Jason landed hard on the deck of the Argo II, using a Roman to shield his fall. The said Roman "mhmph!"'ed in pain, but Jason stood right up and ducked as 3 swords almost decapitated him. A millisecond later, the holders of the swords were bowled to the ground as Leo whooped and jumped into them. Jason stood up and spotted Octavian at the helm, screeching at his followers to destroy Jason.

The said person propelled himself at Octavian using the windy air and tackled him mid-air at 30 km an hour. The poor kid didn't even get to respond before his head struck the deck, and although Octavian's helmet absorbed most of the impact, his head still lolled to the side and he slipped into unconsciousness and shock.

Jason stood up just in time to get tackled to the ground—by Piper. A millisecond later, he heard a _sss _sound and she screamed in pain. Jason, still groggy from getting the same treatment as Octavian, instantly bolted upright as a dead weight landed on him. "Piper!" Jason hissed and crouched down, saving her from smashing her head on the deck.

He put Piper down gently and kneeled over her. An arrow had embedded itself in her arm. It was only a flesh wound, and Piper was still kicking. "Don't tell me the great Jason Grace is worried," she teased. Jason sighed. "Wait right here," he said and jumped over her, dragging an Apollo kid back.

He watched as Will tried to pull the arrow out. However, when he touched it, the shaft smoked and Will gasped in shock, withdrawing his hand quickly and wiping it on his armor. "It has a corroding poison on it," He explained. "I can't pull it out without burning my hand to the bone."

Will looked at Piper. "Don't move your arm. At all." Piper obliged. "Now, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, what number is your pain?" Will asked calmly, using the method mortal doctors used to decide which drugs to use.

Jason's girlfriend thought for a moment, with Jason extremely worried. "Probably… a one. It barely stings a little."

Will growled. "That's always the worst. Jason, the proper medical supplies for treatment of this poison is down in the infirmary, and I can't do anything until the fighting stops and the ship stops rocking around so much." Jason nodded. "I'll do my best."

He looked up and examined the fighting, which was still evenly balanced. A few Greeks had also began takeovers of other nearby ships. Jason bit his lip. He was just about to begin help "pacifying" the ship, when suddenly the Argo II rocked violently, followed by an enormous "BOOM!"

And then the deck began caving in. Jason stood there in shock as the entire upper deck's floor collapsed onto the 2nd level, and Greeks and Romans alike screamed and let out cries of shock as they tumbled several feet. Recovering, Jason shot one more look at Will doing what he could for Piper before jumping down onto the now debris-littered 2nd level.

"Damn," Jason muttered. He hadn't bothered to check if Aria had planted explosives elsewhere, and she had probably stuck a small stick of C4 on one of the support beams. Jason ignored everyone and ran down to the third deck, checking if the infirmary was all right. His wish was not fulfilled.

The entire lower deck was utterly destroyed, the beams only holding out because they were made of Celestial Bronze to support the ship. However, all the separate rooms were blown to bits, except for the engine room, which had a specialized explosive-proof structure. It stuck out rather oddly in the mess of wood, weapons and medical supplies. Medical supplies… Jason swore.

He almost flew through the floor to get back upstairs to Will. When looked at expectantly, Jason shook his head, a helpless expression on his face. Will's eyebrows scrunched up. "I don't what to do then. There's no other ship in this fleet with the proper supplies. Our only hope is to either pray to the gods or dock and rush Piper to the nearest mortal hospital, but other than that…" Will shook his head.

"You know, WE could help you," a voice suddenly said. Jason shot around and had his gladius out in a second, ready to attack the deep, unfamiliar voice. But apparently, the culprit was prepared. Before Jason could bring himself to bear, a cold hand grabbed his arm and twisted it, making Jason hiss in pain and drop the sword. He braced himself for an attack, but it never came. Slowly, he turned the rest of the way.

"Damn, just what we need," he muttered to himself. Standing in front of him was a ghostly Carthaginian hoplite, holding in 1 hand a shield with the mark of the Sacred Band*, the other was empty. A spear was strapped over his back, and a _xyphos _was belted to the hip. The soldier was wearing full armor, but behind his Corinthian Helmet, all Jason saw was a pair of pale-blue eyes. Everything else was pitch black.

Jason already had enough problems. Now he had to deal with an annoying ghost of Carthage.

It was then that Jason looked past the ghost and for the first time, realized that there was land. A peninsula was jutting out of the main coast, less than 15 miles away. At this distance, it was still kind of blurry, but Jason could make out the modern city of Carthage. He knew that the ruins of the old city were almost gone completely. All that remained of the original city Rome had burned down were a few buildings, like a chapel, amphitheatre, bath, and a few others. Jason remembered what the dude had said.

Snapping out of his gaze, he looked back at the Sacred Band and said, "What do you mean?"

The hoplite tilted his head. "I hope you are not deaf. Let me repeat it. We. Can. Help. That. Girl. On. The. Ground. You DO seem to have a thing for her," he mused.

"We're dating," Jason snapped. "What's dating?" came the reply.

He sighed. There was no time to explain. "I'll tell you later. Right now, Piper is dying of some poison, and the medical supplies were destroyed. We can't remove the arrow because of a corroding acid on—"

"I KNOW that. I've been watching your little play for the past 10 minutes. Quite desperate, you are. Haven't had a good love story since those filthy Romans," the hoplite gestured to said legionaries, "decided to burn down our city because they were bored."

Jason turned his face to check on Piper, as well as hide his warm face. "Though I guess that son of Poseidon and his partner were a rather interesting story…"

Jason ignored that comment and asked, "Ok, so you have some magic power to heal them. Obviously, you have some condition, though. What is it?"

"Quite simple, in fact." The hoplite thought for a moment. "All I want is to take some… revenge on those that destroyed my city. From what it looks like, we all hate them." He noted the carnage Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter. Another wave of Romans had landed, though the Greeks had pushed the Romans back towards the edge of the ship with their nearly impregnable phalanx. Without any room to flank the wall of metal, very soon, there would be many Romans drowning in full armor.

"What?" Jason asked. "You can't just murder 60 people in cold blood!" Even as Jason said that, he saw the hypocrism in his words.

"You arrogant people are all the same. You forbid me to throw around just a few people, and yet you harbor no ill towards Scipio Aemillianus, who burned down a city and slaughtered tens of thousands?" The hoplite demanded. At this point, the spear was in his hand and he was pointing it at Jason, who took a step back.

Jason gulped. "Hey, let's just negotiate for a moment..." he started, but never got to finish his sentence as Sacred Band soldier stepped forward with one leg and kicked Jason's knee hard with the other. He yelled in pain as his knee buckled and he fell on 1 leg. A picosecond later, a shield slammed into the side of his head, not with enough force to knock Jason out, but it sent him to the ground dazed.

"You don't seem in a position to negotiate much," Jason's attacker noted. Jason gritted his teeth. In the back of his mind, he began to concentrate the clouds overhead. The hoplite didn't notice.

"This is bigger than just revenge," Jason hissed. "I'm sure you've heard of Gaea."

The hoplite drew back and scratched his head. "Uh, not quite."

Jason told him about Gaea. He was careful to put in the worst parts about her and make her sound much worse than she really was…which was hard, because she was already pretty bad.

The hoplite just nodded, like he was listening to an old friend tell about a brave deed. Jason made it quick though, as soon as he heard Piper groan a bit, and began to work harder on gathering the clouds. He wasn't sure lightning would effect the ghost, but the bronze shield looked solid enough to conduct electricity.

When Jason finished his 3 minute retell, the hoplite asked curiously, "So, she wishes to destroy everything?"

"Uh, yeah," Jason said. He wasn't sure his story would be bought, but the hoplite didn't know much else, and he looked at Jason.

"If that is the case, then we cannot allow Gaea to defeat you. Carthage must remain, if only in memory. We will fight for you," the hoplite said with a bit of grandeur.

"We?" Jason asked. "Hey, it's not like I'm-" *hand quotes* "Forever alone, right?" The hoplite protested. Jason didn't answer.

"That girl is going to die soon," the Ghost noted.

Jason grumbled under his breath, "no shit, Sherlock." Then louder: "When can your ghost medic work his magic?"

The ghost scratched his chin. "The water is rocking the boat too much, and my friend can't perform his duty. You'll need to land." Jason swore. The Argo II was in it's usual position—the center of the entire fleet. He knew the only reason the Romans hadn't opened fire was to hopefully take the ship as a medal. However, the moment they moved, the Argo would be blasted to Kingdom Come. "Leo! Can you get this thing lift?" Jason called at the said person.

Leo looked at Jason like he was crazy. "If you don't realize yet, they sort of _blew up everything except the engine room. _Of course I can fly. Just fix my ship," Leo said sarcastically.

Jason growled. He was starting to panic from Piper, who was entering shock, but he forced his training to keep Jason's calm demanour. The only thing that kept the Argo from being dead in the water was the engines. Jason's mind was torn. He took a deep breath. "Leo, turn us to the shore. Divert all available power to engines and shields. We'll deal with any resistance on the way. "

"Uh, those kinetic barriers—not shields, are designed to block arrows and shrapnel, not ballista bolts, Jason," Leo warned. Jason snapped back, "I know! Just do it!"

Leo looked hurt, but Jason was too worried to apologize. He was probably acting paranoid, but Jason didn't care. He gathered a deep breath and walked to the edge as Leo began shaking a Wii remove up and down, raising what was left of the sails. Jason wanted to use the oars, but both sides had been smashed when the Greek and Roman triremes rammed her.

The Argo II slowly began to turn towards land. However, it was still way to slow for Jason's liking. "Hurry up," he growled at Leo. He probably shouldn't have used that kind of tone.

Leo turned on him with an upset look on his face and snapped at Jason, "I'd like to see you do better." Jason winced, but his Roman pride refused to let Jason be put down. "How about you do something useful for once?" Jason retorted.

"Excuse me?"

"You've done nothing this entire quest! You just moan about the paint job, or cry about being single!" Jason nearly shouted.

Leo's eyes narrowed, and Jason thought he saw Leo's hand turn slightly red. "I have to disagree," he said.

"Well NOBODY CARES!" Jason finally shouted. He realized what his mouth had been going on too late. "Leo, I mean- uh, I-"

"Save it for someone who _does _care," Leo snarled, before he left without another glance. Jason, freshly overwhelmed with guilt, sighed. The ghost hoplite, who had watched Jason and Leo's short shouting match, chuckled. "Leader, are you? You won't hope to defeat what's waiting for you on shore if you can't even get a friend listen to you, let alone unite the Romans and Greeks."

"What's waiting for me?" Jason asked curiously.

The hoplite waved his hand. "A security measure, a test that Athena placed to make sure whoever found the Bow was worthy."

"You know about the Bow?"

The hoplite snorted. "Of course. The entire reason my detachment is still in the mortal world is to guard it. Oh, and call me Agnes. My mother thought it sounded flashy…" he trailed off, obviously thinking about her.

Jason was now even more annoyed. He counted his list of problems—an angry Leo and possibly other members of the Seven, a dying Piper, two camps in a miniature civil war, and to top it off, a "test" waiting for him on shore; one he supposedly couldn't complete without unity.

First things first, Jason needed to dock and take casualty reports. Currently, both factions were exchanging arrow and ballista fire, though the Argo II's hull had held up decently. However, the sheer amount of it had begun to take its toll on the metal-plated hull of the Argo II, and dents were beginning to show. Meanwhile, the Greeks had disabled the weapons of several ships, but most of the time they had to hide behind cover or get a dozen arrows end up in his or her chest.

The nearest stretch of land was still a kilometer away, and 2 ships directly barred the path. Nyssa from Hepheastus asked, "What do we do about those 2?"

Jason grabbed the railing and scrunched his features. "Head straight at them. They'll want to move or they'll get rammed."

Nyssa nodded slightly, still upset about Jason yelling at Leo, who was downstairs doing this thing. Sure enough, as the Argo II's brislting ram neared the two ships, they began to move out of the way. However, they had begun to load extremely high powered close range explosive bolts, and did a real number on the Greeks and hull. Jason looked away as one of the quarrels smashed through the railing and sent 2 girls flying, as well as spraying up red liquid.

"Target the ballistas, disable them!" Jason barked and the Argo II's own gunners returned fire, the repeating ballistae each unleashing a triplet of oversized arrows, disabling 2 Roman ones.

The Argo II sailed through the gap slowly. And then Jason realized his mistake. The 2 ships, who had previously been reversing out of the way, now turned full throttle forwards, their rams bristling towards the Argo. Before Jason could even shout something, both triemes' Celestial Bronze rams tore into the Argo from both sides.

It was too much for the beat up hull to bear. Jason yelled to hit the deck as the center literally collapsed on itself, and the screching of metal and cracking of wood drove Jason nearly deaf as he ducked behind a shield he picked off an unconcious Roman. A couple Greeks were extremely unfortunate and were thrown off their feet, some into the water. Others were lucky enough to be towards the side or have time to grab something.

Forunately, the Argo II was an extremely tough ship, and it could still function at only 20% hull integrity, and even 2 ships ramming it from 2 sides wasn't enough to put it dead in the water, though it definitely slowed it down.

And the Greeks weren't about to give up yet. Just a few seconds after the noise subsided, what was left of the Argo II's weapons roared in defiance and screwed over the other 2 triremes' hulls, and Nyssa shouted, "Divert all power to engines! We need to make a landing or we're going to gain water."

Leo shouted something back, which was drowned by the shouting before Jason could make it out. Even as the 2 triremes that rammed the Argo II dislodged, the rams were designed to cause as much damage as possible when being removed, and Jason nearly went deaf again as the screeching of the rams tearing through wood filled the air, and people shouted to get the rams out.

The Hepheastus engineers use their amazing hammer magic (not really, more like pressure pads and TNT) to dislodge the 2 ships that were bogging the Argo II down, and they quickly left the Romans behind. A couple minutes later, Jason snapped back to reality as several demigods helped navigate the Argo aground in a rock-free area.

Normally, this could be bad for the hull, but there was no way to make repairs without dry-docking it. Jason watched, not sure what to do as Greeks jumped overboard, taking the Romans that they subdued with them. Jason took a headcount. 3 missing, 18 wounded, but no fatalities. Over 50 POWs had been captured.

He watched as Will and another Apollo kid helped lift Piper over the edge, using the ramp to ease her to the ground. He looked at where the ghost was… except he wasn't there. Jason whirled around, panicking, just in time to receive a blow to his temple and pass out.

xXx

"What do you want?" Jason asked, still attempting to wriggle free of his ghostly bonds. However, while they secured him to the wall, Jason couldn't feel them, like an invisible magnet was keeping his hand from moving.

Jason's assailant looked at him curiously, or what he thought was curious. It was kind of hard to tell since the guy still had no face visible behind his helmet.

"Oh, nothing from YOU. Although, there is quite a bounty on your head," the ghost mused.

"I thought you didn't know about this kind of stuff?"

"Oh, I knew about a bounty on your head. Who issued it was beyond my care until you told me. Thanks for that, by the way."

Jason growled. "And I thought you were one to trust."

The ghost laughed and took a threatening step forward. "Oh, but I am," he said. Then, the said person nodded and Piper materialized from the mist that was hanging around. She coughed and looked around warily, but her shoulder was no longer bloody and she looked healthy.

"Jason!" She exclaimed and hugged him quickly. "What happened?"

Jason sighed. "Oh, the usual," he said, trying to keep a cool, bored voice and hide his panic. "Get someone's trust, get betrayed, not know what's going on with anyone else."

Piper looked at him with a worried look on her face. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"I'm fine," came the bland reply.

"If you say so," Piper muttered and sat down against the wall next to Jason. She didn't have any bonds, Jason noted, then realized his own were gone as well. He frowned and stood up. No alarms went off. Nobody yelled in distress. No cake launched into Jason's face.

'Odd,' Jason thought. He took a step forward, expecting something to happen. Sure enough, something did. He tripped and fell on his face, muffling a groan of pain. Jason heard Piper sigh and face palm behind him. Jason quickly stood up and tried to recover what dignity he could, though embarrassment still burned in his chest.

"Uh… let's just go." Jason beckoned at the door and helped Piper up. They stepped outside and Jason shot his hand up, expecting the blow from a guard outside the door. Jason got a good grip on the hand that was ready to decapitate Jason, but he forgot other hand, and a ghostly arm with a shield in hand struck Jason's ribs with the edge.

Immediately, Jason's hand lost all its strength and his knees buckled, and his vision clouded a little. When he tried to breathe, Jason was rewarded with a sharp pain in his chest. He swore, realizing that the shield's blunt edge had broken at least 1 of his ribs. Jason leaned back and raised his arm just in time to block another strike from the shield.

Jason hissed in pain, the bones in his arms barely holding the stress. Jason tried to use his other hand to punch out the ghost's legs, but his hand passed right through. However, when his hand drew back, the foot kicked at him, and Jason didn't put his guard up, expecting it to pass through him.

Too late, he couldn't react as the milky, misty white foot darkened in color and became much more solid and the force of the kick nailed Jason square in his broken ribs. And that was too much for Jason. He collapsed on the ground, and blackness began to cloud his vision as Piper screamed and several thumps sounded, before a sickening _crack _rang through the circular room Jason and Piper had walked into.

Jason gasped for air as he was lifted up again, and pushed up against the wall by his neck. His tormentor, the same ghost that Jason had talked to on the Argo, looked him eye-to-eye-socket, and then shook his head in disgust. "I expected a little more from the great praetor of Rome. Your training is truly pitful. In fact, that _girl _fights better than you, and she's barely a novice according to what you told me."

The hoplite raised his sword for a finishing blow, but before it went in, Jason croaked, "wait…"

"What?"

"You want—you want a good fight? I wasn't uh, prepared," Jason quickly said. "If you let me heal, then we have a real duel. To the death, no holds barred. Ok?"

He prayed to every god that the ghost would accept. From what he knew, a Greek always wanted a good duel. It looked at him curiously, before nodding slowly and letting Jason dropped. "You have 2 days," it warned. "You may go back to the ship—outside the door behind me. Besides making them surrender, nothing has happened. But, if you aren't back by the 28th, every one of you will die." And he left.

Jason wasn't sure what happened after that. He only had one thought on his mind as the Greeks kicked open the door and dragged himself and Piper out onto a makeshift infirmary.

It was July 28th already. Only 3 days until Gaea was set to rise.

***The Sacred Band were a handpicked group of aristocratic Carthaginian hoplites.**

**Reading the HoH chapter 1 right now, expect a rant in my Hates story soon.**

**Hope you the way, I don't do anon review answers before/after my chapters, so if you want a question answered, PM it to me or ask me in a registered account so that I can reply to it. Next chapter will be around late this month or early next month.**

**Quote: I've got a problem for your solution.**

**Entertainment: Les Miserables.**

**Song: The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol. **


End file.
